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Summary
Africa's vast reserves of lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements are positioning the continent at the center of the global race for critical minerals. As governments and industries seek secure, diversified supply chains to support the energy transition and advanced technologies, African nations are gaining unprecedented strategic influence. Through export controls, industrial policies, infrastructure partnerships, and resource nationalism, countries across the continent are seeking to capture greater value from their mineral wealth while navigating growing competition between global powers.
Join S&P Global experts as they examine how Africa is transforming critical mineral markets, leveraging geopolitical competition, and shaping the future of global supply chains.
1. Africa's Rising Influence in Critical Mineral Supply Chains
How is Africa reshaping the global critical minerals landscape?
- Why Africa has become indispensable to the energy transition and technology supply chains
- The continent's growing role in supplying key minerals, including cobalt, lithium, graphite, copper, and iron ore
- Shifting investment patterns and the race to secure long-term mineral supply
Case Studies in Resource Nationalism and Value Capture
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Leveraging cobalt dominance through export controls, strategic partnerships, and increasing engagement with Western investors
- Zimbabwe: Using lithium export restrictions to promote domestic processing and downstream investment
- East Africa: The emergence of Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar as critical hubs for graphite production and processing
2. Geopolitical Competition and Africa's Growing Bargaining Power
How are African nations navigating competition between global powers?
- Africa's emergence as a critical battleground in the contest for mineral security
- Comparing the approaches of China, the United States, Europe, and other strategic partners
- Which regions currently maintain the strongest economic relationships with Africa—and why?
Development Goals vs. Geopolitical Interests
- What African governments want from foreign investment: infrastructure, industrialization, jobs, and revenue
- How major powers are aligning their offers with African development priorities
- How governments are assessing the durability and reliability of long-term partnerships with China, the United States, and other investors
3. The Next Decade: Risks, Constraints, and Future Supply Chain Scenarios
Can Africa fully realize its critical minerals opportunity?
- Key obstacles to growth, including security risks, policy uncertainty, infrastructure limitations, power availability, and artisanal mining challenges
- The realities of project development timelines and bringing new supply online
- Can the continent move beyond extraction into processing, refining, and battery-material production?
- How resource nationalism, geopolitical competition, and investment trends could reshape global critical mineral supply over the next decade
Will Africa become merely a supplier of critical minerals—or a dominant force in defining the future of global industrial supply chains?
Speakers
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Paul Hunt
Director, Product Development
Paul Hunt, Product Management Director for Country Risk, leads product strategy efforts for the Global Insight, Market Intelligence division at S&P Global. In this role, he leads product development projects relating to country risk analysis and risk monitoring systems, economic and industry forecasting. Mr. Hunt serves as an S&P Global Market Intelligence product expert helping clients better apply our services to solve critical business issues.
Prior to his current role, he was the APAC Product Director for IHS Markit Country Risk and Energy Insight businesses based in Singapore. Before joining IHS, Mr. Hunt was Director, Government Consulting for Standard and Poor’s DRI based in Washington, DC. In this role, he managed a variety of country risk and economic impact studies for various agencies within the US Government. He holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business in Baltimore MD and an undergraduate degree from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Thea Fourie
Head of Regional Analysis, Middle East & Africa
Thea leads Sub-Saharan Economics and Country Risk analysis for S&P Global Market Intelligence. Her 30-year career has been devoted to macro-econometric modeling and macro-economic analysis of the Sub-Saharan region, with a focus on markets including South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Central African Republic and Benin. South Africa and Nigeria are part of our proprietary Global Link Model - an econometric model covering 95% of global GDP - where she takes responsibility for these two countries.
S&P Global Energy
Alice Yu
Associate Director, Metals & Mining
Alice Yu is an Associate Director specializing in critical minerals at S&P Global Energy. She began researching battery metals in 2015; and in 2020, she launched S&P Global's forecast coverage for lithium and cobalt. She is based in Bangkok and has previously worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, and London.
Prior to joining, Alice was a strategy consultant in metals at CRU where she led projects across market due diligence, market entry strategy, competitor mapping, and acquisition target selection. Alice holds an MSc in Economic History and a BSc in Economics, both from the London School of Economics.
Questions?
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