Regional integration necessary to enable value addition from critical mineral mining across SADC

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As demand for critical minerals continues to grow amid a global energy transition, Southern Africa's abundance of minerals, including copper, cobalt and lithium, offers opportunities to establish industrial linkages across mining, processing, manufacturing and services.

The regional challenge, however, is translating mineral endowment into commercially competitive value chains that retain greater value, generate jobs and connect enterprises across member States in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015–2063, Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020–2030, Regional Mining Vision (RMV) and its Action Plan, and the Protocol on Mining provide a policy foundation for this ambition.

While the RMV's Action Plan and project prefeasibility work have advanced elements of the agenda, uneven implementation of regional strategies, together with energy, logistics, skills, quality infrastructure, finance and regulatory constraints, continues to limit cross-border investment and beneficiation.

According to the SADC Business Council, the ongoing process to amend the SADC Protocol on Mining seeks to strengthen the regional framework and incorporate the RMV and private-sector perspectives.

Proposed amendments have undergone regional consultation and validation but are not yet in force.

This was discussed by speakers during the SADC Critical Minerals & Regional Value Chains webinar, held on October 13 by the SADC Business Council and Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa (MIASA).

The dialogue considered how these instruments can better connect mining with trade and industrial development, and how member States can pursue complementary rather than competing segments of mineral value chains.

The webinar participants also discussed practical measures to translate SADC's mineral policy commitments into integrated, investable and market-ready regional value chains.

Speaking during the webinar, MIASA executive secretary and SADC Business Council member Vusi Mabena unpacked the role of public-private collaboration in driving value addition and beneficiation in the SADC region.

Mabena emphasised the importance of collaboration and fostering integration across