The Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2027 programme has launched a Strategic Minerals Forum to advance investment in Africa’s mining and energy sectors, positioning mineral development within the same capital allocation discussions shaping the continent’s oil, gas and power projects.
Africa holds about 30 per cent of the world’s critical mineral reserves, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese and platinum group metals.
The mines producing these minerals are among the largest and most creditworthy electricity consumers on the continent, with their long-term demand anchoring new generation and cross-border transmission projects.
The same minerals also supply the cables, grid equipment and battery systems required to expand Africa’s power sector, placing mining and energy investment within a single industrial pipeline.
The Strategic Minerals Forum, the newest addition to the IAE 2027 programme in Paris, will hold on the final day of the event.
It will run alongside the Exploration and Discovery Forum, Grid Convergence Forum, Commodities and Capital Allocation Forum and a dedicated Business-to-Government Day.
IAE Day 3 will open with a session on financing the mining infrastructure gap, as many of Africa’s largest mineral deposits are located inland, far from ports and reliable grids.
The rail lines and power systems needed to bring these resources to production are often cross-border and long-dated, requiring multi-party financing.
Mining demand also makes much of this infrastructure bankable, providing lenders with an anchor customer while giving host countries capacity that can extend to surrounding communities.
The Lobito Corridor, where development finance has supported both the railway and new power studies for mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, is one model the session will examine for replication across other mineral regions.
The second session will address the role of advanced technology in improving mining efficiency.
Across Africa’s diverse mining regions, declining ore grades and rising input costs are putting pressure on margins, regardless of resource size.
AI-enabled ore sorting and process control can help raise recovery rates and make lower-grade material more economic to process.
On-site solar and battery systems, such as the plant now supplying baseload power to the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, can also reduce exposure to diesel prices and unreliable grids.
These gains help determine which projects reach final investment decisions and whether processing can move closer to the mine.
The forum will close with an investor roundtable on accelerating the production of Africa’s strategic minerals, as the continent’s project pipeline becomes more deeply integrated into global supply chains.
The International Energy Agency still projects a global copper shortfall in 2035, but highlights that the projects showing the most promise for easing the decline are concentrated in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
Moving African supply to market depends on how quickly projects can advance and on aligning investor timelines with government ambitions for local processing.
The roundtable will bring capital providers, producers and policymakers together to address those conditions.
By placing strategic minerals on its agenda, IAE 2027 reflects the close dependence of Africa’s mining and energy sectors on shared infrastructure, financing and policy.
The Strategic Minerals Forum will give investors a platform in Paris to assess both sides of that relationship as African governments work to convert mineral wealth into domestic industrial growth.
Sources
# IAE 2027 Launches Strategic Minerals Forum to Drive Africa’s Mining and Energy Investment
The Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2027 programme has launched a Strategic Minerals Forum to advance investment in Africa’s mining and energy sectors, positioning mineral development within the same capital allocation discussions shaping the continent’s oil, gas and power projects.
Africa holds about 30 per cent of the world’s critical mineral reserves, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese and platinum group metals.
The mines producing these minerals are among the largest and most creditworthy electricity consumers on the continent, with their long-term demand anchoring new generation and cross-border transmission projects.
The same minerals also supply the cables, grid equipment and battery systems required to expand Africa’s power sector, placing mining and energy investment within a single industrial pipeline.
The Strategic Minerals Forum, the newest addition to the IAE 2027 programme in Paris, will hold on the final day of the event.
It will run alongside the Exploration and Discovery Forum, Grid Convergence Forum, Commodities and Capital Allocation Forum and a dedicated Business-to-Government Day.
IAE Day 3 will open with a session on financing the mining infrastructure gap, as many of Africa’s largest mineral deposits are located inland, far from ports and reliable grids.
The rail lines and power systems needed to bring these resources to production are often cross-border and long-dated, requiring multi-party financing.
Mining demand also makes much of this infrastructure bankable, providing lenders with an anchor customer while giving host countries capacity that can extend to surrounding communities.
The Lobito Corridor, where development finance has supported both the railway and new power studies for mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, is one model the session will examine for replication across other mineral regions.
The second session will address the role of advanced technology in improving mining efficiency.
Across Africa’s diverse mining regions, declining ore grades and rising input costs are putting pressure on margins, regardless of resource size.
AI-enabled ore sorting and process control can help raise recovery rates and make lower-grade material more economic to process.
On-site solar and battery systems, such as the plant now supplying baseload power to the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, can also reduce exposure to diesel prices and unreliable grids.
These gains help determine which projects reach final investment decisions and whether processing can move closer to the mine.
The forum will close with an investor roundtable on accelerating the production of Africa’s strategic minerals, as the continent’s project pipeline becomes more deeply integrated into global supply chains.
The International Energy Agency still projects a global copper shortfall in 2035, but highlights that the projects showing the most promise for easing the decline are concentrated in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
Moving African supply to market depends on how quickly projects can advance and on aligning investor timelines with government ambitions for local processing.
The roundtable will bring capital providers, producers and policymakers together to address those conditions.
By placing strategic minerals on its agenda, IAE 2027 reflects the close dependence of Africa’s mining and energy sectors on shared infrastructure, financing and policy.
The Strategic Minerals Forum will give investors a platform in Paris to assess both sides of that relationship as African governments work to convert mineral wealth into domestic industrial growth.