Minerals: Africa holds 96% of the world's platinum but less than 0.4% of patents

Africa holds the majority of the minerals necessary for the global energy transition, yet remains almost entirely absent from the industries that add value to them. This is the conclusion of a study commissioned by the World Bank and authored by researchers Gideon Ndubuisi, Elvis Korku Avenyo, Solomon Owusu, and Woubet Kassa, published on September 27, 2026, in The Conversation Africa.

Significant reserves, an absent industry

The figures put forward by the authors illustrate the continent's advantage: Africa reportedly holds 96% of the world's platinum group metal reserves, 77% of phosphate reserves, and 55% of cobalt reserves. Of the 41 transition minerals identified, 48 African countries possess at least one. South Africa has 24, while Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have fourteen each.

Demand is skyrocketing: according to the study, an electric car requires six times more minerals than a gasoline or diesel vehicle, and a wind farm nine times more than a gas-fired power plant.

However, the value chain eludes the continent. The researchers note that China absorbs more than 40% of annual African raw mineral exports, that the African share of patents filed in this sector between 2017 and 2023 remained below 0.4%, and that the African share of exports remains below 1% in all categories of processed products.

The price of raw material

The gap is highlighted by a single figure cited in the study: Congolese cobalt can sell for 5.80 dollars per kilogram at the point of extraction, compared to 16.20 dollars after local refining. That is nearly triple the price for a mineral that currently leaves the continent before being processed elsewhere.

Cooperating rather than competing

The authors' central recommendation is not to multiply national factories, but to pool resources. No single African country, they emphasize, possesses the volumes, markets, energy, and skills required for a profitable refinery or battery plant on its own. The study advocates for processing hubs shared between several states, the pooling of supplies, infrastructure, and training, and harmonized rules supported by the continent's institutions.

It also calls on development donors to finance these shared infrastructures and makes the utility of foreign partnerships conditional on technology transfer and the training of the local workforce.

What comes next

The researchers' message is clear: sovereignty over resources cannot be decreed; it must be built through factories, patents, and engineers trained on the continent. As long as the mineral leaves in its raw state, the bulk of the value is created elsewhere.