Question NW909 to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Reply:

South Africa took over the Presidency of the G20 on 1 December 2024, guided by the theme of Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability. It is within this context that the harnessing of critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development has been identified as one of the Four Priorities of our Presidency.

Therefore, South Africa will champion a Critical Minerals Framework through Task Force One during our Presidency in 2025.

South Africa believes that the G20 is uniquely placed to initiate discussion on green industrial policies, which is an emerging focus area in the G20 and the international community at large. Given the potential for green industrial policies to foster inclusive growth, the role of technology and critical minerals in driving industrialisation and a just energy transition, creating employment and fostering global equity, including through beneficiation at source, are critical.

South Africa’s G20 Presidency aims to champion an inclusive framework that ensures resource-rich nations and communities benefit equitably from their mineral wealth, including by championing the use of critical minerals as an engine for growth and development in Africa.

While Global South countries, in particular African countries, possess abundant reserves of critical minerals, merely extracting these resources reinforces historical patterns of commodity dependence. To ensure that critical minerals translate into structural economic transformation, South Africa aims to advance and prioritise value chain integration beyond extraction.

For critical minerals not to repeat the mistakes of past mineral booms, actions should be taken in a sustainable manner, whilst achieving the necessary balance with environmental and social impacts. Fundamental to this is global equity and local justice.

Mineral-rich developing countries will require broad-based sharing of benefits that supports the diversification of their economies, enabling them to leverage their resource endowment to expand socio-economic opportunities and economic diversification.

Local value addition to mineral ores and capturing a larger share of value in the mineral’s value chain would not only generate more export earnings and tax revenues for mineral-rich developing countries and communities – to be used to expand economic opportunities, skills development, and social and community investments - but will also reduce volatility of export revenues and contribute to the industrial development and economic structural transformation of these mineral-rich developing countries.

At the same time, developing mid- and downstream capacities in mineral-rich developing and developed countries, fosters global value chain diversification and integration, thereby increasing the resilience and stability of global supply of critical minerals.

As thirty percent (30%) of the world’s proven critical mineral reserves are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, it would not be an overstatement to say that the minerals that lie beneath the soil of Africa are powering the world economy.

South Africa has been blessed with substantial reserves of platinum group metals, manganese, vanadium, as well as chromium, but for South Africa these critical minerals are more than just commodities. They are integral to resolving some of the world’s most pressing challenges, be they climate change, energy insecurity or food insecurity. Therefore, South Africa holds the view that, for critical minerals to fully realise their potential, it will be key that both mineral-rich countries and the countries that reap the benefits from these minerals, strive for inclusivity through mutually beneficial collaboration and advancing policies that promote value addition, regional cooperation, and transparent governance.

This aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Green Minerals Strategy, which position critical minerals as essential to achieving the continent’s development goals and contributing to global resilience and equity.

South Africa will also take forward the outcomes of the 2024 report of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.