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The minerals powering the global industrial race are abundant across SADC, yet much of the region’s economic value still leaves with the ore. From copper and lithium to platinum, cobalt, chrome and manganese, a resource advantage that should be feeding factories, supply chains and high-value industries remains heavily concentrated at the extraction end of the value chain.
That disconnect came into sharp focus at the MSU-SADC ASM Mining Symposium in Gweru, where Mangisi argued that the region must move decisively from exporting mineral wealth to building industries around it. The symposium ran from 23 to 25 September and it was organised jointly with the Open Society Foundation. Presenting on “Economic Development and Mining Value Chains”, Mangisi argued that the region’s mineral advantage will remain limited unless it is converted into processing, refining and manufacturing capacity. “SADC is richest in minerals but poorest in benefits,” said Mangisi.
He pointed to the region’s substantial shares of global platinum, cobalt, gold, manganese, chrome and lithium resources, noting that much of this production continues to leave Africa with limited value added. Zambia’s copper industry, he argued, illustrates the disconnect. Despite its significant copper resources, the country still imports copper wire from China, highlighting the distance between mineral production and industrial capacity. Mangisi noted, “SADC will remain a quarry without beneficiation. With beneficiation, we become a factory.”
The case for beneficiation, he argued, must also extend beyond individual national economies. Few SADC countries possess all the resources, infrastructure, skills, capital and markets required to develop complete mineral-to-product value chains on their own. Regional integration therefore offers a pathway to combining complementary capabilities and creating larger industrial markets. That requires investment in reliable electricity and infrastructure, technical skills and financing, particularly for artisanal and small-scale miners, alongside policies that encourage domestic processing and discourage the export of unprocessed minerals.
Mangisi framed artisanal and small-scale mining within a broader value chain spanning exploration, mine development, extraction, processing, beneficiation, refining, marketing and rehabilitation. Value can be created or lost at every stage, he said, making local participation across the chain critical to ensuring that mining generates wider economic benefits. The scale of the opportunity is significant. Mining remains central to economies across the region, while artisanal and small-scale mining supports hundreds of thousands of livelihoods in Zimbabwe alone, reinforcing the need to expand access to finance, technology, skills and formal markets.
Mining infrastructure can also create wider economic linkages. Mangisi cited developments associated with Unki, Mimosa and Hwange Colliery’s Dinson Cement Road as examples of how mining investment can stimulate activity beyond the mine itself. However, he cautioned that mineral wealth and major mining projects do not automatically translate into meaningful development for surrounding communities, pointing to Marange as an example of unmet expectations.
Using the Ford T6 as an illustration, Mangisi highlighted the value gap created when minerals produced in SADC become inputs into sophisticated manufactured products abroad, which are subsequently imported back into the region at significantly higher values. For SADC, the strategic challenge is therefore moving beyond resource extraction towards integrated regional value chains capable of supporting processing, manufacturing, jobs and industrial development. The objective is not simply to produce more minerals but to capture more of the economic value they generate before they leave the region.
