As the global race to secure critical minerals intensifies, Africa’s existing refining and smelting capacity is drawing renewed attention. While the continent is often viewed primarily as a source of raw materials, the data reveals a more complex and evolving picture — one of established industrial capability in traditional commodities and emerging investments in minerals central to electrification.

Existing Capacity: A Foundation for Industrial Growth

Africa already possesses significant infrastructure for refining and smelting traditional commodities such as copper, ferromanganese, platinum group metals (PGMs), and aluminium. Facilities across Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Mozambique, Cameroon, and Egypt demonstrate operational capacity in mineral processing and metallurgical production — a foundation upon which further industrialisation could be built.

One notable example is Rwanda’s LuNa Smelter, one of the few operational tin smelters on the continent. Rwanda’s facility transforms locally mined tin ore into refined metal, a key component in electronics, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure. Tin’s role in the modern economy — as a solder in circuit boards and connectors — makes Rwanda’s facility both symbolic and strategic: it demonstrates that African states can successfully move up the value chain in complex, technology-driven industries with the support of nimble international partners. Meanwhile, Uganda is planning the country’s first tin refinery in Mbarara

Morocco: Emerging as a Battery Production Hub

At the northern edge of the continent, Morocco is fast becoming a focal point for global battery supply chains. Leveraging its free trade agreement with the European Union, Morocco has attracted major Chinese and Korean manufacturers seeking to produce cathode, anode, and electrolyte materials closer to European markets.

Operational and planned projects in Jorf Lasfar and Tangier — including facilities by COBCO, BTR New Material Group, Shinzoom, and Tinci Materials — are positioning Morocco as a continental leader in lithium refining and midstream battery materials production. This ecosystem of investment marks the country’s evolution from a mining jurisdiction to a fully integrated hub for electric vehicle and energy storage supply chains.

South Africa: At a Crossroads

South Africa remains home to some of Africa’s most advanced smelting and refining infrastructure, including major facilities for ferrochrome, PGMs, aluminium, and titanium slag. However, the reliability of the national energy grid is a growing threat to the sector’s viability.

Without decisive action to increase capacity, improve governance within the state-owned energy utility, expand transmission capacity, and restore stable electricity, South Africa risks losing its comparative advantage in metallurgical processing. Failure to secure energy reform could lead to the gradual decline of one of the continent’s most mature industrial bases with regional implications for employment, exports, and fiscal stability.

Why Critical Mineral Refining Remains More Challenging

While Africa’s refining footprint in traditional metals is well-established, replicating this success for critical and green minerals, such as lithium, rare earths, and cobalt, is far more complex. Several interrelated factors constrain progress:

1. China’s Market Dominance – China controls the majority of global critical mineral refining capacity and can influence global prices through strategic overproduction, undermining new entrants.
2. Energy Costs and Reliability – Smelting and refining require cheap, consistent power. Where hydropower is unavailable, solar and wind alternatives remain costly when coupled with long-duration energy storage.
3. Skills and Technical Expertise – The operational know-how required for high-purity refining is highly specialised and concentrated mainly in Asia. Importing expertise limits local job creation and skills transfer.
4. Infrastructure Constraints – Refining relies on robust and interconnected transport, chemical, and industrial logistics networks, which remain underdeveloped in many African economies.
5. Access to Affordable Finance – High sovereign risk ratings, political instability, and asset seizures deter lenders and raise the cost of capital, impeding investment in large-scale industrial projects.
6. Market Access and Demand – Local markets for advanced materials are minimal. For example, despite its growth potential, electric vehicle (EV) adoption remains low due to load shedding, limited infrastructure, and affordability barriers, which reduce domestic demand for refined battery materials.
7. Competitive Disadvantage – Without the economies of scale, state-backed incentives, and integrated industrial ecosystems seen in China and other jurisdictions, African producers face structural cost disadvantages. These are not insurmountable, but they need clever country, regional and continental industrial policy tools to address them.

The Path Forward

Africa’s mineral future depends not only on extraction but on creating enabling conditions for beneficiation and value addition: reliable energy, transparent governance, skilled labour, and strategic partnerships. The continent’s existing network of smelters and refineries provides a vital foundation for developing competitive, sustainable, and locally beneficial critical mineral industries.

Disclaimer

All data used in CMAG’s Africa’s Refining & Smelting Landscape infographic is drawn from open-source information and presented “as is.” The dataset may not capture all recent announcements of planned or proposed smelters and refineries.

For analytical consistency, CMAG applies a definition of critical minerals aligned with leading national frameworks such as those of Geoscience Australia and the U.S. Geological Survey — referring to minerals essential to modern economies whose supply disruption would cause significant economic, industrial, or national security harm.

CMAG notes that criticality and importance are not synonymous: a mineral’s criticality is context-dependent, shaped by its end uses, supply chain concentration, and geopolitical dynamics, rather than by its abundance or upstream production alone.