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Reports And Publications

Pan-African Geoscience Coordination on Critical Minerals (2019–2025)

The Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS) plays a leading role in supporting Africa’s capacity to identify, assess, and manage critical minerals that are essential for renewable energy technologies and strategic industries.

From 2019 to 2025, OAGS has focused on strengthening data coordination and institutional capacity for critical-mineral development across the continent. Working with African national surveys and international partners, the organisation ensures that high-quality geological information underpins Africa’s participation in the global energy-transition economy.

Strategic Importance

By coordinating geoscientific data and expertise across Africa, OAGS enables the continent to take a leading role in the global critical-minerals supply chain. Its work reduces exploration risk, improves investment confidence, and strengthens Africa’s ability to manage these strategic resources sustainably—ensuring long-term economic growth and technological independence.

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Highlight of Critical Minerals in Africa (By Country)

The map published by AMSG presents a continental overview of Africa’s confirmed endowment of critical minerals — including lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese, graphite and rare-earth elements (REEs).

Mapping Global Distribution of Critical Minerals

“Explore this ArcGIS StoryMap of global critical- and rare-earth-mineral distribution. It highlights continents, countries and deposits of lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite and rare earth elements (REEs). For ASCTM this visual offers a compelling backdrop to Africa’s mineral endowment — supporting our mandate of data-sharing, national-survey capacity building and value-chain development.”

Wilson Center maps show global concentrations of cobalt, lithium, nickel and rare-earth elements in 2024

This edition presents a set of maps by the Wilson Center illustrating how critical-minerals reserves and processing—especially of cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare-earth-elements—are geographically concentrated across the globe. The report highlights how supply-chain bottlenecks and regional imbalances affect energy-transition and investment-risk dynamics.”

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Major Minerals deposit in Africa(by Country)

The “Africa Major Mineral Deposits Dataset” published by the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) provides geospatial data on the known locations and geological settings of major non-fuel mineral commodities across Africa.

UNCTAD report cover on critical minerals boom and developing countries

“This UNCTAD commentary explores how the accelerating global energy transition is driving surging demand for critical minerals — including lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements — and outlines the opportunities for developing countries (especially in Africa) to capture value and avoid the pitfalls of raw-material dependency. The report highlights the need for robust governance, downstream processing, transparent contracts and capacity building.”

Adding Local Value to African Countries’ Critical Raw Materials Trade” (August 2024)

The Germanwatch factsheet examines how Africa’s critical raw materials — including lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare-earth elements — can deliver sustainable development when value-creation, refining and manufacturing happen locally. It highlights that Africa holds ~30 % of proven critical-mineral reserves yet captures minimal downstream value. The publication also addresses obstacles to achieving the Africa Mining Vision and presents regional cooperation and the Lobito Corridor as a case study of building African-led supply chains.

UN WESP 2025: harnessing critical minerals for sustainable development.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025 report highlights how the global transition to clean energy is reshaping mineral demand and trade. A special section, Harnessing the Potential of Critical Minerals for Sustainable Development, underscores that developing regions—particularly Africa—can achieve inclusive growth if they strengthen governance, invest in refining capacity and ensure fair participation in the critical- and rare-earth-minerals value chain.

Mo Ibrahim Foundation: Africa’s Critical Minerals

Africa holds a substantial share of the world’s critical- and rare-earth mineral reserves which are essential for the global energy transition. The report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation argues that without strong governance, transparent institutions and value-chain development, these mineral resources risk becoming a burden rather than a benefit for the continent. Key challenges highlighted include the “resource curse”, unstable revenues, environmental damage, weak institutional development and insufficient downstream processing.