The director for Angola’s national mineral resources, Andre Buta Neto, said on Wednesday that the African country has 36 of the 51 critical minerals worldwide, some of which are about to enter the production phase.
The official, who was speaking at the 2nd Banking & Mining Forum, organised by Bumbar Mining, said that the resources had been identified as part of the National Geology Plan (PLANAGEO), reconfirming surveys already carried out during the colonial era.
Among other resources, Angola has diamonds, zircon, quartz, tourmaline, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, gold, silver, platinum and copper.
The critical minerals are thus classified according to their restricted geological location, high relevance for industry and supply risks, with some of them considered essential in the energy transition.
Angola’s focus on these resources is “still in its infancy,” if one looks at the range of minerals confirmed by the study,” Buta Neto said, noting that the mining sector was a risky endeavour, as only 10 percent of prospecting projects could lead to a mine.
Angola has already started producing gold and manganese, and hopes soon to start producing rare earths, titanium and lithium, which “are at an advanced stage of prospecting.
In the next two years, production is expected to begin of neodymium and praseodymium, used in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars, as well as copper and niobium.
“This means that Angola, in the next five years, can make a great leap in terms of mining,” he said.
He also noted that the restructuring of the mining sector over the last five years had given investors greater confidence, which had brought the big mining players closer to Angola.
“With this step other companies may come, as they gain this confidence,” he noted.
Currently, as well as large companies such as Rio Tinto and DeBeers, which returned to Angola this year, “junior” companies are starting to appear that are exploring, for example, rare earths and phosphates.
Buta Neto also advocated bringing the financial sector closer to the mining industry, which is still dominated by diamonds, which account for 3 percent of Angola’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“We have to have greater dissemination of facilities within the mining sector, which did not exist before. Banking works with investment and with returns and when there is no security of return, nobody accepts putting money in without a guarantee that they will recover their investment and this has been the performance of banking,” he noted.
He believed, however, that the “banks are beginning to see that it is worth investing in the mining sector,” considering that meetings of this type help to bring the two sectors closer together.
He also said that it is now possible for banks to be part of mining exploration, allowing the mining permit to be used as collateral, which will also force banks to develop an area that is responsible for the mining sector.
