Angola currently has 36 of the 51 minerals considered most critical in the world, namely: chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, lithium, nickel and others, which currently represent a “generational opportunity” for the Angolan government.

The information was transmitted, in South Africa, by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, at the Angolan Mining Investment Forum, part of the Mining Indaba Conference 2023 which took place in Cape Town.

According to the official, Angola has critical investment opportunities in minerals and will be a reliable source for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

“However, we must emphasize that the Angolan government will not only promote the extraction of these minerals, but will also demand that a significant part of their value chain also be developed in our country”, he stressed.

In this forum, which took place under the motto “Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition”, the Angolan minister assured that the current list of critical minerals that Angola has provides “greater confidence and predictability” to investors, on the country's priorities and capabilities to produce critical minerals.

Given the greater urgent need to develop critical miners in Angola, he continued, “theefforts” are focused on lithium, iron ore, nickel, lead, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements, “targeting the entire value chain”.

The Angolan minister estimated, for the next five years, the start of production of neodymium and praseodymium, metals used in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars, as well as copper and niobium.

“This means that Angola can give a big leap in terms of mining critical minerals, in the next five years”, he admitted.

The official stressed that currently critical minerals represent a “generational opportunity” for the Angolan government, economy and net zero future, as they are the “base on which modern technology is built”.

“Simply let it be said and confirmed that there is no energy transition without critical minerals and that is why the resilience of the critical minerals supply chain is a growing opportunity for advanced economies”, he pointed out.

For Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, without critical minerals there is no energy transition for Angola and for the world.

By investing in critical minerals, he argued, one is “to build a sustainable industrial base in all critical minerals for generations to come".

He also assured potential investors that Angola has “significant deposits” of critical minerals, a stable investment environment, a strong regulatory model and good governance to attract reliable companies from the world's main investors.

“To simplify, we can say that our potential investors need to trust someone. So let's get them to trust us."

The Angolan minister, who led the Angolan delegation to the Mining Indaba 2023 Conference, concluded.