By: Mining and Energy Bulletin Staff
April – Copper & Battery Minerals Month (African Perspective)
LUSAKA | JOHANNESBURG | KINSHASA – As the world accelerates toward electric vehicles and gigafactories, one continent holds the keys to the raw materials. Africa is home to more than 40% of global cobalt reserves, vast deposits of high-grade copper, rising lithium discoveries, and significant manganese resources. Yet the central question for this April’s Copper & Battery Minerals Month remains: will Africa merely dig and export, or will it capture real value downstream?
From the Central African Copperbelt stretching across Zambia and the DRC, to Zimbabwe’s emerging “Lithium Valley” and South Africa’s manganese heartland, the continent is no longer a passive supplier. Governments and mining houses are rewriting the rules of engagement.
Copper: Zambia and DRC’s Strategic Bet
The Copperbelt is witnessing a renaissance. Zambia has set an ambitious target of tripling copper production to 3 million tonnes annually by 2032, while the DRC—already Africa’s largest copper producer—is pushing past 2.5 million tonnes. But the new dynamic is local processing.
“For decades, we shipped concentrates and cathodes overseas, only to import finished goods at five times the price,” says Musonda Chibwe, a Lusaka-based mining economist. “Now, Chinese, European, and even American firms are being asked to partner on smelters and precursor battery material plants right here.”
The DRC’s 2023 ban on unprocessed cobalt hydroxide exports, reinforced this year, has forced foreign buyers to invest in local refining. While implementation remains patchy, the signal is clear: Africa intends to process its own minerals.
Cobalt: The DRC’s Blessing and Curse
The Democratic Republic of Congo supplies over 70% of the world’s cobalt—the essential element for EV battery stability. But the industry remains haunted by artisanal mining in places like Kolwezi, where child labor and unsafe conditions have tarnished the entire supply chain.
Positive strides are being made. The Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC), a state-backed entity, has begun formalizing artisanal zones, buying only responsibly sourced material. Major miners like CMOC and Glencore have expanded industrial operations, while new traceability technologies—including blockchain and taggant chemicals—are being deployed.
“Cobalt from the DRC can be ethical,” claims José Makabu, a Kinshasa-based civil society monitor. “But Western buyers must pay a premium for traceability. The era of cheap, blind sourcing is over.”
Lithium: Zimbabwe’s Opportunity
While Australia and South America dominate headlines, Zimbabwe has quietly become Africa’s lithium powerhouse. The Kamativi, Arcadia, and Bikita mines—backed by Chinese investment—are now producing spodumene concentrate at scale. However, the government’s 2024 ban on raw lithium exports, later softened to a sliding scale of levies, has sparked debate.
Some analysts warn that forcing local refining too quickly, without reliable power or water, could kill investor appetite. Others argue it is the only way to avoid becoming a low-margin quarry for Asian converters.
“We watched diamonds and gold leave this country for nothing,” says a Harare-based trade official speaking on condition of anonymity. “With lithium, we will either build a battery precursor industry, or we will keep the minerals in the ground.”
Manganese: South Africa’s Quiet Giant
South Africa holds 75% of the world’s identified manganese reserves, primarily in the Northern Cape’s Kalahari Manganese Field. Historically used in steelmaking, high-purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) for EV cathodes is the new frontier.
“Chinese companies built HPMSM refineries because they had to,” says Elna van Wyk, a Johannesburg-based battery metals analyst. “South Africa has the ore and the logistics. If we can build one or two HPMSM plants with renewable energy, we leapfrog the entire value chain.”
Australian and Canadian juniors are already scouting sites near Port Elizabeth, aiming to combine solar power with manganese refining.
The Infrastructure and Energy Barrier
The African narrative is not without hard truths. Mining and refining are energy-intensive, and most African mining regions face chronic power shortages. Zambia and the DRC rely on aging hydro dams (Kariba is at record lows). South Africa’s Eskom continues to implement load-shedding.
“You cannot run a battery refinery on a diesel generator,” warns Thabo Mokoena, a mining infrastructure financier. “Until we fix rail, power, and port congestion, Africa will remain a supplier of rocks, not refined materials.”
Still, progress is visible. The Lobito Atlantic Railway corridor, backed by US and EU funding, is now moving copper and cobalt from the DRC’s Kolwezi to Angola’s Port of Lobito in days rather than weeks. New solar and battery storage projects are being paired with mining operations.
A Continental Voice: The African Green Minerals Strategy
The African Union’s African Green Minerals Strategy, launched in late 2024, seeks to coordinate policies across 54 nations. Key pillars include: banning raw unprocessed exports by a target date, creating local content requirements for mining licenses, and establishing an Africa-based metals exchange to set pricing.
“For too long, we have been price-takers,” says a senior AU trade commissioner. “April’s theme—Copper, Lithium, Cobalt, Manganese—is our theme. The world needs these minerals. Africa needs factories and jobs. That negotiation has finally begun.”
Outlook for Bulletin Readers in Africa
For miners, investors, and policymakers across the continent, the next 36 months will determine whether Africa becomes the green industrial hub it aspires to be—or remains the world’s geological quarry.
One thing is certain: the global EV revolution cannot happen without African copper, cobalt, lithium, and manganese. The question is no longer if the world will buy, but on whose terms.
The Mining and Energy Bulletin’s April Copper & Battery Minerals Month features exclusive reporting from Zambia’s Copperbelt, an investigation into DRC cobalt traceability, and a technical assessment of Zimbabwe’s lithium refining ambitions.