Beyond extraction: Can critical minerals drive Africa’s industrialisation?

One country may have the mineral reserves, another may have relatively cheap and reliable energy, another may possess established processing or refining capacity, while another may have the infrastructure, skills or manufacturing base necessary for downstream production Regional integration can allow these comparative advantages to be combined rather than duplicated.

If South Africa already has economically viable platinum-refining capacity, Zimbabwe could use that capacity as part of a regional platinum value chain, while simultaneously developing additional capabilities at home.

In our understandable pursuit of domestic value addition, we sometimes frame beneficiation too narrowly around national borders where policy makers want processing, refining and smelting to be mined within national borders.