Angola is home to 36 of the 51 most critical minerals in the world, including chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, lithium and nickel, a fantastic opportunity for the government and international companies, minister Pedro Azevedo has announced.
The information was provided by the minister for mineral resources, oil and gas, Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, at the Angolan Mining Investment Forum, as part of the Mining Indaba 2023 Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
According to the minister, Angola has critical mineral investment opportunities and will be a reliable source of the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.
“However, we must emphasise that the Angolan government will promote the extraction of these minerals but will require that a significant part of their value chain is developed in our country,” he stressed.
At the forum, which was held under the slogan, Critical Minerals for Energy Transition, the minister said that Angola’s current list of critical minerals provides “greater confidence and predictability” for investors, in the country’s priorities and capacity to produce critical minerals.
Given the urgent need to develop Angola’s critical minerals, Azevedo said that “efforts” are focused on lithium, iron ore, nickel, lead, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements, “targeting the entire value chain”.
The minister estimated that mining of neodymium and praseodymium, metals used in manufacturing batteries for electric cars, as well as copper and niobium would start within the next five years.
“This means that Angola can make a great leap in terms of mining critical minerals in the next five years,” he said.
He also pointed out that critical minerals represent a “generational opportunity” for Angola’s government, economy and net zero future, as they are the “basis on which modern technology is built”.
Diamantino Pedro Azevedo said that without critical minerals there would be no energy transition for Angola and the world.
He also assured potential investors that Angola had “significant deposits” of critical minerals, a stable investment environment, a strong regulatory model and good governance to attract reliable companies from the world’s leading investors.
“To put it simply, we can say that our potential investors need to trust someone. So, let’s make them trust us,” remarked the Angolan minister, who headed the Angolan delegation to the event.
The Mining Indaba 2023 Conference, considered the biggest African investment event in the mining sector, ended on Thursday.
