Perspectives on African mineral supply and capital

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is reported as the origin of approximately 76% of globally mined cobalt in the 2024 production year. Most of that cobalt is recovered as a by-product of copper mining in the south-eastern Copperbelt, which means cobalt supply is influenced as much by copper economics as by cobalt demand.

Cobalt is used in battery cathodes, superalloys and catalysts. Because a large share of supply originates in one country, buyers and manufacturers increasingly require documented mine of origin, chain of custody and artisanal-mining risk assessment before contracting. MIG applies enhanced due diligence to every cobalt opportunity.

The Central African Copperbelt spanning the southern DRC and northern Zambia is one of the world's most significant copper regions, with grades that are high by international standards. Copper is central to electrification: grids, transformers, motors, renewable generation and electric vehicles all depend on it.

Copper projects in the region are constrained less by geology than by power availability, transport corridors, water, financing conditions and legal title. A credible copper opportunity therefore requires evidence on infrastructure and licensing, not only on grade.

South Africa is reported as the global leader in platinum production and in platinum-group-metal reserves, hosted principally in the Bushveld Complex. Zimbabwe's Great Dyke is a further significant source of platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Platinum-group metals are used in autocatalysts, chemical processing, electronics, medical devices and hydrogen technologies including electrolysers and fuel cells. Production is sensitive to electricity supply, depth of mining, labour conditions and refined-metal prices.

Morocco holds an estimated two-thirds of reported global phosphate-rock reserves, with further North African resources in Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. Phosphate rock is the feedstock for phosphate fertilizers and therefore a foundation of global food security.

Value in phosphate is captured largely through processing into phosphoric acid and finished fertilizers rather than through the export of raw rock. Cadmium and other impurity levels materially affect market acceptance in certain jurisdictions.

Guinea is a major global source of bauxite by reserves, production and exports. Bauxite is refined into alumina and then smelted into aluminium, a metal used in transport, packaging, construction and transmission.

Most Guinean bauxite is exported unrefined. Domestic alumina refining requires very large capital investment, reliable power and port capacity, which is why local processing remains a central development and financing question for the country.

South Africa and Gabon are significant sources of manganese ore, and South Africa is a leading source of chromite. Manganese is essential to steelmaking and is also used in certain battery chemistries; chromium is essential to stainless steel.

Both commodities are shipped as ore, concentrate or ferroalloy. The difference between those product forms — and the energy cost of smelting — largely determines where value is captured.

Mozambique, Madagascar and Tanzania host substantial natural-graphite resources, while Zimbabwe, Mali, Namibia, the DRC and Ghana have advanced lithium projects. Both minerals are inputs to battery manufacturing: graphite predominantly to anodes, lithium to cathodes and electrolytes.

Graphite is specified by fixed-carbon content, flake size and purification route; lithium by contained lithium oxide and product form such as spodumene concentrate. Battery-grade qualification is a long technical process and should never be assumed from a raw assay.

Gold is produced across Ghana, South Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Sudan and the DRC, among others. Botswana, the DRC, South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Lesotho are significant diamond sources, and East Africa hosts important coloured-gemstone deposits.

These commodities carry the highest integrity risk in the sector. MIG applies enhanced due diligence including refinery-level provenance, Kimberley Process review for rough diamonds, export-authorisation checks and rejection of anonymous counterparties and cash settlement.

A mineral resource is a concentration of material with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. A mineral reserve is the part of a measured or indicated resource that has been shown, through a study, to be economically mineable under defined assumptions. Production is the quantity actually mined and sold in a given period.

These three figures are not interchangeable, and none of them is a valuation. A large resource with no reserve, no licence, no power and no road is not a producing asset. Any figure presented to a counterparty on this platform states clearly whether it is a resource estimate, a reserve estimate or recorded production, together with the reporting standard and the competent person or laboratory responsible.

The greater part of the economic value in a mineral is usually captured after extraction: in concentration, smelting, refining, alloying and manufacturing. Exporting unprocessed ore transfers that value elsewhere, along with the associated employment and tax base.

Local processing requires reliable energy, skilled labour, transport, water, capital and stable policy. MIG supports processing and beneficiation projects through structured project financing, offtake-linked funding and partner introductions, without asserting that any project will be built, financed or completed.

Access to international buyers and capital now depends on documented conduct as much as on geology. That includes mine-of-origin verification, valid licences, beneficial-ownership transparency, sanctions and politically exposed person screening, and the exclusion of child and forced labour.

It also includes environmental management, water and tailings stewardship, rehabilitation obligations, and demonstrable community benefit through employment, procurement and local development. Artisanal and small-scale mining requires its own assessment rather than exclusion by default.

MIG Minerals & Metals Capital originates, verifies and structures mineral transactions and project financing between African producers and qualified international buyers, refiners, investors and financing partners. Every participant is identity-checked, every opportunity passes preliminary, compliance, technical and administrative review, and confidential information is released only inside a private deal room after an approved access request.

MIG does not take deposits, hold investor funds, operate a retail investment service, issue tokenised minerals or guarantee any financing, price, grade or transaction outcome. No transaction becomes binding until definitive agreements are executed.