African Mining Indaba 2026 Marks Shift from Single-Point Extraction to Multi-Point Value Creation Along Corridors

The annual Africa Mining Indaba 2026 (#AMI2026) took place at the Cape Town International Convention Center from 8 to 11 February 2026. The theme of the 2026 edition was “Stronger Together: Progress Through Partnerships.”

More than 12,000 delegates representing 120 countries attended this edition, setting a record in the 32-year history. Indaba reinforces Africa as a global hub for mining. Nearly 40 African mining ministers and country presidents attended, with the Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema delivering a keynote address. The EU, the US and China also had a strong presence.

“Africa must use partnerships, reforms, and leadership to turn its mineral wealth into shared prosperity.”

Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema

During his speech, President Hichilema underscored the need for partnerships aligned with the event theme. Government, investors and entrepreneurs must come together to build up the full mining value chain. Africa must coordinate to harmonize policies and avoid dependency on any single bloc.

South Africa Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe delivered the welcome address during the opening plenary. He led a strong delegation with several ministers to #AMI2026, representing a whole-of-government approach to mining that involves industry, infrastructure, finance, and capacity building. Minister Mantashe must avoid a race to the bottom by lowering standards and giving away value.

In order to attract more investment into downstreaming, a fair and predictable legislative framework must be put in place. ESG in mining is no longer an option but now a statutory standard. With the current boom cycle in #CriticalMinerals and #RareEarths, Africa must play its cards well to exert more agency than in previous commodity cycles.

As Africa acquires more bargaining power, it must learn to convert it into more local value addition (#LVA) without scaring away investors. The new goal is not just to sign up investments in extraction and refining, but to build up a complete downstream ecosystem to keep more value. In that sense, there is much scope for coordination and investment to create scale via the building up of regional value chains by addressing bottlenecks in infrastructure, energy, and local skills.

The current focus appears to be on the #LobitoCorridor and #TAZARA which facilitate access to #CriticalMinerals in DR Congo and Zambia. In addition, Japan has expressed a keen interest in the #NacalaCorridor at TICAD. Similarly, Namibia is promoting the Walvis Bay Corridor, while Mozambique is spearheading the Beira Corridor.