Modern Mining August 2025

COMMODITIES OUTLOOK

How critical minerals can anchor South Africa’s Just Energy Transition By Muzi Kubeka: Director at CMS South Africa and Kabelo Dlothi: Co-Head of the Corporate and Commercial at CMS South Africa South Africa’s mineral wealth must do more than power exports – it must drive industrial growth, job creation, and energy equity. CMS South Africa’s Muzi Kubeka and Kabelo Dlothi argue it’s time to move beyond extraction and build a value-added ecosystem that secures the country’s place in the green global economy.

S outh Africa is sitting on a goldmine of critical minerals, copper, manganese, platinum group metals, and rare earths, yet exporting them raw sells the country short. To unlock real value, we must prioritise ourselves: industrialise locally, build domestic supply chains, and use our mineral wealth to create jobs, strengthen energy security, and grow our own economy. It’s time to stop fuelling other economies and start transforming our own. Critical minerals are at the heart of the new global energy order. They power everything from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and industrial-scale batteries. And demand is soaring. Countries are scrambling to secure critical mineral supplies – driven, as recent events show, by geopolitics. US President Donald Trump has struck a deal with Ukraine, floated turning Canada

into the 51st state, and revived efforts to annex Greenland. Meanwhile, the US and EU have placed strategic mineral partnerships high on the agenda. China still dominates processing. The race is not just economic, it’s also geopolitical and environmental. South Africa cannot afford to be a spectator. If we want to be more than a pit stop on the global supply chain, we must use our mineral advantage to anchor a broader, value-driven energy and industrial strategy. This means building smelters and refineries, developing skills pipelines, and investing in reliable power infrastructure that supports local processing. It also means enforcing beneficiation requirements and incentivising the private sector to move beyond shipping unprocessed ore offshore. South Africa is the most industrialised country in the African continent, has the most diverse and deepest capital markets and the basis to build and develop

Kabelo Dlothi: Co-Head of the Corporate and Commercial at CMS South Africa

12  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | AUGUST 2026