Financing Value Beyond the Mine

Danie Dörfling-Kruger, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Moore Infinity, opened the day with a presentation arguing that the value of Africa’s minerals is realized in transport corridors and priced in the cost of capital. His analysis estimated that cutting DRC copper transit times from 30 days to 10 could release about $2.7 billion in working capital and save roughly $270 million a year in financing costs. He called on governments to match processing mandates to installed capacity, noting that projects anchored to contracted offtake and transport volumes are the ones securing finance.

New Investment Rules in Southern Africa

Tatenda Mafuriranwa, Partner for Audit, Risk and ESG Advisory at HLB Zambia, outlined regulatory changes in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana aimed at increasing domestic processing, including Zimbabwe’s planned ban on lithium concentrate exports from January 2027 and Zambia’s plan to raise procurement reserved for local suppliers from 20% to 40% over five years.

“ESG is no longer a byword. It is no longer a brochure,” he said.

Developing Africa’s Human Mineral Wealth

Noleen Pauls, Board Chair of Women in Mining South Africa, a non-profit network supporting women in the country’s mining industry, called for human capital to be measured with the same rigor as mineral resources. Citing the Minerals Council South Africa, she noted that women now make up 21% of South Africa’s mining workforce, up from about 12% in the late 2010s.

“Human resource loss is still resource loss, even when it doesn’t appear in a production chart,” Pauls explained.

Investment Opportunities in the DRC

Thierry Naweji, Executive Chairman of the SA-DRC Chamber of Commerce, which facilitates trade and investment between the two countries, highlighted power generation as a key opportunity, noting that his company has identified nine projects capable of producing about 800 MW in the southern DRC. He also pointed to a planned battery factory in Zambia’s Copperbelt using lithium from the DRC’s Manono deposit.

“There is a lot of money to be made in the DRC, because everything is needed,” he told delegates.

Trusted Data for Safer Tailings

Pieter-Paul Mooijman, VP Market Growth at Insight Terra, a provider of monitoring software for mining assets, addressed tailings safety and compliance with global and South African standards. “Today, data sits in separate systems and spreadsheets, and broken sensors can go unnoticed for weeks. Meanwhile, dams are getting bigger and storms heavier,” he observed. Insight Terra’s platform combines sensor readings, manual inspections and satellite data in a virtual twin of mine assets, giving operators earlier warning of ground movement and weather risk.