World Bank Group

10/15/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/15/2025 10:06

Mineral Resources of Africa

The report highlights Africa's rich endowment of twenty-six key minerals, underscoring the continent's growing strategic importance in the global shift to clean energy and advanced technologies.

It provides a comprehensive regional assessment of Africa's mineral prospectivity, identifying promising areas for exploration. With the energy transition driving renewed exploration and investment, Africa's competitive advantage lies in its high geological potential and relatively lower discovery costs.

The report further emphasizes the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in mineral exploration and calls for greater efforts to strengthen geoscientific data systems to maximize technological innovation and improve exploration outcomes. The renewed global interest in Africa's mineral resources presents a significant opportunity to attract responsible investment. By implementing balanced regulatory and fiscal frameworks, African nations can unlock innovation, expand processing and infrastructure, and foster broad-based, sustainable economic growth across the continent.

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  • "Mineral Resources of Africa" highlights the continent's rich and diverse mineral endowment, strong discovery potential, and lower exploration costs, with a particular focus on critical minerals.
  • The mineral and metal-driven clean energy transition is refocusing global attention on Africa, spurring new investment in exploration and long overdue mine development.
  • The report provides a comprehensive regional assessment of Africa's mineral prospectivity, identifying high-potential areas even where known endowment remains modest.
  • AI is transforming mineral exploration, but success depends on strong geoscientific databases-an area where investment is needed to harness AI.
  • The renewed interest in Africa's mineral resources offers an opportunity to attract foreign investment. By balancing fair royalties and taxes with industry needs, countries can leverage their mineral wealth to spur innovation, boost investment in extraction and processing, and drive job growth.
World Bank Group published this content on October 15, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 15, 2025 at 16:06 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]