Africa holds a dominant share of the world’s critical minerals, yet continues to capture limited value due to structural and informational asymmetries. In From Ore to Intelligence, Enoch Antwi argues that artificial intelligence is transforming mineral exploration, valuation, and extraction—shifting power from resource ownership to data and algorithmic control. With AI-driven systems dramatically improving discovery success rates, reducing exploration timelines, and increasing asset valuation, the article highlights how control over subsurface intelligence is becoming the new frontier of economic leverage. As global demand for cobalt, copper, lithium, and other strategic minerals accelerates, Africa faces a pivotal choice: build domestic AI capacity and retain value, or risk ceding the informational premium to foreign firms. The future of resource power, the article concludes, will be defined not by who owns the ore, but by who controls the intelligence behind it.
Tag: Africa critical minerals
Africa’s Critical Minerals and the Reshaping of Global Semiconductor Supply Chains
Africa’s critical minerals—including cobalt, platinum group metals, lithium, graphite, and rare earth elements—are essential for semiconductor production, electric vehicles, data centers, and advanced electronics. As semiconductor manufacturing consolidates in strategic networks across the United States, Taiwan, and Japan, African countries face a policy crossroads: align with Western supply chain standards, deepen engagement with China, or pursue multi-vector strategies. Regional initiatives like AfCFTA and national beneficiation policies offer pathways to capture greater value, strengthen industrial sovereignty, and redefine Africa’s role in the global technology economy.