IAE 2027 Launches Strategic Minerals Forum to Advance Africa's Mining and Energy Investment Agenda
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Africa holds about 30% of the world's critical mineral reserves, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese and platinum group metals. The mines that produce these minerals are among the largest and most creditworthy electricity consumers on the continent, and their long-term demand is anchoring new generation and cross-border transmission projects across Africa. The same minerals supply the cables, grid equipment and battery systems required to expand the continent’s power sector, positioning mining and energy investment as two parts of a single industrial pipeline.
The Strategic Minerals Forum, the newest addition to the Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2027 program in Paris, will take place on the event's final day. Running alongside IAE's Exploration & Discovery Forum, Grid Convergence Forum, Commodities & Capital Allocation Forum and dedicated Business-to-Government (B2G) Day, the forum places mineral development within the same capital allocation discussions that shape Africa's oil, gas and power projects.
IAE Day 3 opens with a session on financing the mining infrastructure gap, as many of Africa's largest deposits sit inland, far from ports and reliable grids. The rail lines and power systems needed to bring them to production are cross-border and long-dated, requiring multi-party financing. Mining demand is also what makes much of this infrastructure bankable, giving lenders an anchor customer and giving host countries capacity that can extend to surrounding communities. The Lobito Corridor, where development finance has backed both the railway and new power studies for mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia, is one model the session will examine for replication across other mineral regions.
The second session addresses the role of advanced technology in making mining operations more efficient. Across Africa’s diverse mining regions, declining ore grades and rising input costs are putting pressure on margins, regardless of resource size. AI-enabled ore sorting and process control can help raise recovery rates and make lower-grade material more economic to process, while on-site solar and battery systems – such as the plant now supplying baseload power to the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the DRC – reduce exposure to diesel prices and unreliable grids. These gains help determine which projects reach final investment decisions and whether processing can move closer to the mine.
The forum closes with an investor roundtable on accelerating the production of Africa's strategic minerals, as the continent's project pipeline integrates deeper into global supply chains. The International Energy Agency still projects a global copper shortfall in 2035, but highlights that the projects that have shown the most promise for easing the drop-off are concentrated in Africa, particularly in the DRC and Zambia. Moving African supply to market depends on how quickly projects can advance, and on aligning investor timelines with government ambitions for local processing. The roundtable will bring capital providers, producers and policymakers together to work through those conditions.
By bringing strategic minerals to the agenda, IAE 2027 reflects how closely Africa's mining and energy sectors depend on shared infrastructure, financing and policy. The Strategic Minerals Forum gives investors a platform in Paris to assess both sides of that relationship as African governments work to turn mineral wealth into domestic industrial growth.
The Invest in African Energy Forum returns to Paris for its fifth edition on 11-13 May 2027. To sponsor or register as a delegate, contact sales@energycapitalpower.com. For more information, visit www.invest-africa-energy.com.