Times are changing across Africa, with commercial interest shifting from traditional minerals such as gold and diamonds to rare and critical minerals that are becoming central to artificial intelligence, global energy, technology and defence industries.
According to an Atlantic Council report titled Artificial intelligence and the future of African mining, data and AI-driven mining could save producers worldwide between $290 billion and $390 billion annually by 2035.
However, the technology remains at a nascent stage in Africa, despite the continent holding an estimated 30 per cent of the world’s critical mineral reserves and receiving only 10 per cent of global mineral exploration spending.
Many African countries also continue to rely on geological surveys compiled during the colonial era, leaving large parts of the continent underexplored despite major deposits of cobalt, manganese, graphite, bauxite, copper, chromium and platinum-group metals.
Africa holds nearly 85 per cent of known platinum-group metal reserves, about 51 per cent of cobalt and almost 37 per cent of manganese.
