Resource-rich nations must secure capital to add value to critical minerals
Predicting that demand for critical minerals will double by 2030 and triple by 2040, Lamine K. Marong, Principal Energy Officer at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mines, Gambia, on Thursday stressed the importance of securing funds from lending agencies, foreign direct investment, and the private sector. Such financing, he said, is essential to enable resource-rich nations to add value to minerals using modern technology.
The rising demand for critical minerals is driven by low and zero-carbon technologies, including electric vehicles and renewable energy.
“I think what is much more critical is access to capital because with the capital, you can leverage the technology and probably also increase your share of participation in the critical minerals sub-sector. But capital also poses another key challenge: where will this money come from? That is a very important question, and we should try to understand how to mobilise some of these resources. This can be getting from multilateral development partners to FDIs, that is, foreign direct investments, and through public-private partnerships,” Marong said.
Speaking at a panel on “New strategic perspectives in the global critical minerals sector: facilitating supply security and increasing self-reliance,” Marong explained that capital is crucial because most resource-bearing nations lack the technology to process and add value to raw minerals.
He emphasised that attracting investment requires strong policy and regulatory frameworks. “If it is not gotten right, then it will be difficult for them to attract the most needed capital to be able to exploit. Also, another critical component to that is what they often do, which is just to supply raw materials to the consuming nations.”
Marong noted that this limits opportunities for employment creation and wealth generation, leaving resource-rich nations at a disadvantage compared with consuming countries. He added that the global push for self-reliance presents an opportunity for African nations to grow economically while creating value from their minerals.
Trailukya Borgohain, Director, Operations of Oil India Limited, highlighted the need for collaboration between companies and nations, particularly since India has “a very limited pool of resources in terms of human resources also.”
“We can collaborate with those countries and build up our own resources in terms of the academy. The academia itself in India can contribute a lot, and the industry, mining, plus companies like us, we can definitely collaborate on the geological knowledge, GSI, all these companies can definitely collaborate, and I think we can build very good human resources,” Borgohain said.
Praveen Rai, MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX), added, “Speed is going to be important for here and now, today, agility with which we are able to execute as a country. But in the medium-to-long term, I think building up that reliance and security with the concept of sovereignty is going to be extremely critical.”
