Africa’s Critical Minerals Need Processing, Not Just Mines

Stellenbosch University associate professor Margreth Tadie called on October 2 for greater research investment and academia-industry collaboration to strengthen Africa’s ability to process and add value to its critical minerals.

Africa’s critical-minerals opportunity depends on more than developing deposits. It also requires the technical ability to turn mineral resources into products that customers can use—and to do so at a cost that supports a commercial business.

That was the challenge raised by Margreth Tadie, a Stellenbosch University chemical engineering associate professor and African Rainbow Minerals geometallurgical research chair, at the Mintek-Sci 2026 conference in Johannesburg on October 2. She called for greater investment in research, innovation and collaboration between academia and industry to unlock more value from the continent’s resources.

South Africa and the broader African continent have significant mineral resources but need stronger capabilities to process and add value to them, Tadie said, according to Mining Weekly.

The commercial implication is straightforward: possessing a resource and capturing the value of a finished mineral product are different achievements. The gap between them is an engineering, financing and execution problem, not simply a question of how much material lies underground.

Processing determines how much value a resource can deliver

Mining brings material out of the ground. Processing separates valuable components from unwanted material, while refining can bring a product to the chemical composition and purity required by a buyer. These activities are related, but each presents its own technical and commercial hurdles.

Adding more processing locally can create opportunities for engineering services, laboratory work, equipment maintenance and specialized operating skills. Those opportunities depend, however, on a process that works reliably and a product that meets customer requirements. A more extensively processed product is not automatically a more profitable one.

For developers and investors, the relevant comparison is therefore not just the selling price of raw material against that of a refined product. It is the revenue left after paying for processing equipment, energy, water, chemicals, labor, maintenance and waste management. Extra processing can increase revenue while also introducing costs and operational risks.

Tadie’s call puts attention on the capability needed to navigate that trade-off. It does not, by itself, establish that any particular project should build a refinery or that every mineral should be processed through the same route.

Research must connect ore characteristics with plant performance

A practical research agenda would begin with understanding the material a plant must treat. Mineral composition, the way valuable minerals occur within rock, and variation across a deposit can affect which processing methods are suitable. These are analytical priorities suggested by the processing challenge, rather than specific projects announced in Tadie’s remarks.

Geometallurgy—the connection between a deposit’s geology and its processing behavior—helps frame that work. Its purpose is to understand how differences in mined material may affect recovery, product quality and operating requirements. A process that performs well on a selected laboratory sample still needs testing against the variation a commercial operation could encounter.

Other useful research questions concern separation, impurity removal and the use of energy, water and chemical reagents. Improving recovery means capturing more of the valuable material entering a plant. But a higher recovery rate is not necessarily an economic improvement if it requires substantially more inputs or produces material a customer cannot accept.

The strongest research programs would therefore evaluate technical performance alongside operating economics and environmental requirements. That approach helps distinguish an interesting laboratory result from a process with a credible path to commercial use.

University-industry collaboration needs a route to scale

Academic researchers and mine operators approach processing from different directions. Universities can investigate mechanisms, compare methods and develop specialized expertise. Industrial partners can supply representative material, operating constraints and feedback about what a plant must achieve in practice.

Collaboration becomes more useful when those contributions are connected early. Testing a method without considering feed variability, maintenance requirements or customer specifications can leave important problems unresolved until a project is much further along.

Pilot-scale testing provides a bridge between laboratory research and commercial operation. It allows teams to examine whether a process can operate consistently beyond a small experiment and whether equipment, material flows and product quality remain manageable. It reduces uncertainty; it does not eliminate the risks of scaling up.

For prospective partners, practical questions include who supplies samples, who pays for testing, who owns resulting intellectual property and who can use the findings. Clear answers can help research move toward deployment rather than remain disconnected from investment decisions.

The funding call is not a project financing announcement

The named institutional connection is Tadie’s position at Stellenbosch University and her African Rainbow Minerals geometallurgical research chair. That affiliation is relevant to the call for closer links between academia and industry, but it does not establish a new financial commitment.

The supplied account identifies no research budget, processing-plant investment, funding award or commercial deployment timetable. It also does not identify a particular mineral, processing technology or project as the intended recipient of additional investment. Those limits matter when assessing what the conference remarks mean for companies.

For potential funders, the next useful evidence would be a defined technical problem, an accountable research partnership and a plan for testing results under realistic conditions. Funding early research and financing a commercial plant serve different purposes and require different standards of evidence.

Watch for test results, customers and investment decisions

The stakeholders affected extend beyond mining companies. Researchers need access to material and sustained support. Equipment suppliers and engineering firms need clearly defined operating requirements. Buyers need confidence that a processor can consistently deliver the product they require.

Progress would become more tangible through disclosed testing programs, demonstrated product quality, evidence of reliable operation and commitments from partners prepared to support further development. These would provide a stronger basis for evaluating value addition than a general statement of resource potential.

Tadie’s message places processing capability at the center of Africa’s critical-minerals opportunity. The next step is to turn the call for research and collaboration into evidence that particular resources can support competitive products—and then into investment decisions grounded in that evidence.

Key facts

• Speaker: Margreth Tadie, Stellenbosch University chemical engineering associate professor
• Industry affiliation: African Rainbow Minerals geometallurgical research chair
• Venue and date: Mintek-Sci 2026 conference, Johannesburg, October 2
• Central recommendation: Greater research investment, innovation and academia-industry collaboration to strengthen mineral processing and value addition

Frequently asked questions

What did Margreth Tadie recommend for Africa’s critical minerals?

Margreth Tadie called for greater investment in research, innovation and collaboration between academia and industry. Speaking at the Mintek-Sci 2026 conference in Johannesburg on October 2, she said South Africa and the broader African continent have significant mineral resources but need stronger capabilities to process and add value to them.

What does adding value to minerals mean?

Adding value means processing mineral material into a form that better meets a customer’s requirements, rather than relying only on extraction. This can involve separating valuable components or refining a product. The commercial benefit depends on whether additional revenue outweighs the equipment, operating and other costs needed to produce that material reliably.

What research could help improve mineral processing?

Relevant research could examine mineral composition, variations in ore, separation methods, impurity removal and the consumption of energy, water and chemicals. These are practical areas of analysis, not specific projects announced in Tadie’s remarks. The objective would be to establish whether a process can deliver acceptable products reliably and economically.

Why is collaboration between universities and industry important?

Universities can contribute scientific methods and specialized research expertise, while industrial partners can provide representative samples, operating constraints and practical feedback. Connecting those contributions helps researchers test ideas against commercial requirements. Effective collaboration also needs clear arrangements for funding, access to material, intellectual property and the use of research results.

Did the conference remarks announce new funding or a processing plant?

The supplied account does not identify a new funding commitment, research budget, processing-plant investment or deployment timetable. It identifies Tadie’s affiliation with Stellenbosch University and the African Rainbow Minerals geometallurgical research chair. Her recommendation for greater investment should therefore not be treated as an announcement that a particular project has secured financing.

What should investors watch for after the call for more research?

Investors should look for defined research partnerships, representative testing, demonstrated product quality and evidence that processing can operate reliably at a commercially relevant scale. Customer requirements and operating costs also matter. Those developments would help show whether a mineral resource can support competitive value-added products, rather than merely an attractive laboratory result.

Sources

• Research, innovation key to unlocking greater critical minerals value, conference hears — Mining Weekly

Photo: jarmoluk · Pixabay Content License — source