Staff Writer
Namibia has been included in a five-year United Nations programme aimed at strengthening environmentally and socially responsible critical mineral value chains in Southern Africa, as international efforts increase to help African countries retain more value from their mineral resources.
The programme, launched in June 2026 by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), covers Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It focuses on increasing local value retention and supporting industrialisation and responsible mineral development across the region.
The initiative is being led by UNECA through the African Minerals Development Centre and is supported by Germany’s International Climate Initiative.
It brings together technical and development partners to address constraints including limited beneficiation capacity, environmental, social and governance compliance, and weak regional value-chain integration.
The programme forms part of broader UN initiatives aimed at helping African mineral-producing countries develop domestic processing and capture greater economic value from critical minerals.
In September 2026, five other African mineral producers – Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, were selected to participate in the UN Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals programme.
The mechanism will provide tailored support in areas including policy advice, legal and regulatory expertise, environmental and social safeguards, and coordination across domestic mineral value chains.
The initiative comes ahead of African Mining Week 2026, which will take place in Cape Town from October 14 to 16 under the theme “Mining the Future: Unearthing Africa’s Full Mineral Value”.
The event is expected to bring together African governments, project developers, investors and technical partners to discuss mineral production, processing and supporting infrastructure.
Participating countries are increasingly pursuing domestic processing and industrialisation strategies.
Zambia is seeking to increase value addition in its copper industry, while Zimbabwe is expanding lithium processing.
Madagascar is pursuing greater value addition around rare earths and graphite, while Guinea and Nigeria are seeking to develop broader mineral value chains.
The UN Development Programme is also developing a continental critical minerals initiative under its 2026-2029 Regional Programme for Africa.
The initiative focuses on how mineral-producing countries can use their resource base to support economic transformation while aligning investment and value-addition strategies with their infrastructure, financing and industrial capabilities.
The UNDP is also supporting technology-led mining development through its MineTech Accelerator.
Five African mining innovators – Anchor Machines in Uganda, ZanfiEnterprise in Zambia, Milsat Technologies in Nigeria, Tukutechin Tanzania and SYNCHROS in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are receiving seed funding to accelerate technology-driven mining solutions.
The UN initiatives form part of wider efforts to strengthen domestic mineral value chains in Africa and increase local participation in the processing and development of critical minerals.
