AU Underpins Mineral Endowment’s Role in Africa’s Industrialization

Join the African Newspage Community on WhatsApp.

The African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, Amb. Albert Muchanga, has described the mining sector as crucial for Africa’s industrialization, considering the continent’s home to some of the world’s most valuable natural resources, including minerals, oil and gas.

Amb. Muchanga made these remarks at the launch of the Lithium-Ion Afro-Hackathon aimed at harnessing Africa’s potential in the lithium-ion market, organized by the Africa Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), on the sidelines of the 3rd Annual African Union MSMEs Forum in Windhoek, Namibia.

Amb Muchanga said the event was of critical importance to the future of the continent and in alignment with the African Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), aimed at stimulating the development of green industry and broader industrialization through the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), aimed at harnessing mineral resources for broad-based development through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In this vein, Amb. Muchanga said the Lithium-ion Afro-Hackathon was predicated on showcasing the growing human and institutional capacities of the local African MSME players to use mineral endowments to underpin Africa’s industrialization towards electrification, creating green technologies, sustainable development as well as job creation by fully developing inter-sectoral linkages.

“This serves as a soft launch of the multi-stakeholder and growing participatory approach to the lithium-ion battery value chain Afro-Hackathon as well as the multi-stakeholder continental extractives industries program grounded in the AMV. There will be a special focus on capital equipment manufacturing; renewable energy equipment manufacturing; hydrogen and fuel cell localization; lithium-ion ferrous phosphate battery (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery precursor production; light electric vehicle assembly for two and three-wheelers, buses as well as small four-wheeler,” he said.

The AU Commissioner also described the Lithium-Ion Afro-Hackathon as the beginning of a strengthening and growing community of practice around future jobs in the African green minerals value chains with integrated industrial platforms to secure the future of mining in Africa towards industrialization hubs and platforms for continued development of partnerships with all stakeholders through advancing mineral development, people and technological capability, building key value chains and mineral stewardship.

The AU Commissioner had in August 2024 signed off training modules for accreditation and continuous professional development of competent persons under the Pan-African Public Resource Reporting Code for Minerals and Energy Resources, designed to explore the critical role of professionally targeted training programs in enhancing the competencies of professionals for certification purposes in maintaining integrity in the linkages with African capital markets.

“The skill needs will apply to manufacturing African lithium-ion batteries or electric vehicles. The Centre of Excellence for Batteries hosted at the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC with participation of universities in Zambia, Morocco, South Africa and here in Namibia as well as others currently onboarding to the initiative, is a model for investing in the human capital needed for an African battery industry that leverages the skills of African researchers,” said Mr Muchanga.

With the future of mining being net zero, circular and green—supporting the transition to a sustainable world, the event enabled the thriving of innovation and new technologies by addressing the skills gap in Africa and assisting its youth to utilize the opportunity of becoming key players and benefiting from the energy transition. The transition to clean energy is expected to generate 10.3 million net new jobs globally by 2030, but an estimated 11.2 percent of African youth aged between 15 and 24 years old are unemployed.

The Afro-Hackathon attracted a diverse array of innovators and entrepreneurs from across the continent, eager to contribute to Africa’s evolving green energy sector. The session featured notable industry leaders, including Felix Bob Ocitti (AMREC-PARC), Tshepo Modiba (AFRIVOLT), Tatenda Mungofa (Mureza), Tabi Tabe, Granville, Mecktilder Mchovu (WOOW), Nyasha Chasakara (SolarPro), Tashinga Kanyemba (Aurelia Resources), Thekla Mutero (EMAN), Keith Nare (Digging Deep), Idriss Mouchilli (COEGA), Ruvimbo Kadenhe (RUNE), and Apollo Buregyeya (EcoConcrete).