Zimbabwe has emerged as a continental pace-setter in translating mining policy into tangible industrial outcomes, earning praise in a new authoritative report launched at the ongoing Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa.
According to The Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals 2026, published by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the country has moved faster than any other country in Southern Africa in leveraging its mineral endowment to drive beneficiation, industrial growth and value-chain deepening.
The inaugural edition of the Compendium represents a deliberate effort to reframe Africa’s minerals sector through an African lens, one that places infrastructure development, beneficiation and domestic demand at the centre of mineral policy, the report says.
Rather than treating minerals purely as export commodities, the report maps full value chains by linking mineral reserves and production to processing capacity, transport and energy infrastructure, as well as regional industrial corridors.
The report situates Zimbabwe’s performance within the broader context of Southern Africa, which it identifies as the continent’s most important minerals region.
Despite years of underinvestment and infrastructure strain in the region, the Compendium notes that the conditions for a new phase of industrial growth remain firmly in place.
“The picture is not one of irreversible decline. Southern Africa retains many of the structural assets required for re-industrialisation – provided existing infrastructure is rehabilitated, better maintained, and more efficiently utilised,” the report says.
Within this regional landscape, Zimbabwe stands out for the speed and coherence of its policy execution.
“Zimbabwe, however, has moved fastest in translating policy into industrial outcomes. The country has pursued a deliberate mineral-based industrialisation strategy anchored in chromite, iron ore, and lithium, supported by pragmatic export restrictions.
“High-carbon ferrochrome production rose from less than 250,000 tonnes in 2014 to over 1.7 million tonnes in 2024 while the commissioning of the Mvuma steel plant in 2024 has begun to reshape the regional steel landscape,” it adds.
The Compendium further underscores the strategic importance of chromium, noting that demand for the alloy metal is fundamentally linked to industrialisation and manufacturing depth rather than basic construction activity.
The report explains that chromium is primarily consumed as ferrochrome, an alloy containing 50–70 percent chromium mixed with iron, with stainless steel accounting for the bulk of demand.
Africa, the report notes, sits at the centre of the global chromium market, with Southern Africa dominating global supply.
However, the report notes a sharp divergence between upstream mineral production and downstream beneficiation outcomes across the region.
“Upstream growth has not translated uniformly into downstream processing and beneficiation outcomes are diverging sharply. South Africa’s ferrochrome production has been on a sustained downward trend for many years, with chromium alloy output falling below the 3 million tonnes per annum threshold in recent years.
“By contrast, Zimbabwe has experienced a rapid resurgence in ferrochrome production since 2021, following a partial export ban, marking one of the most striking beneficiation shifts on the continent.’
Energy availability and policy choices are identified as decisive factors shaping chromium value chains.
“Ferrochrome production is an electricity-intensive metallurgical process, making power access, pricing, and reliability critical.”
The report attributes South Africa’s decline in ferrochrome output to persistent power challenges.
Zimbabwe, the report notes it adopted a contrasting approach.
“Zimbabwe adopted a different approach. A partial ban on raw chrome exports introduced in 2021, combined with concessionary electricity tariffs, triggered a new investment cycle focused on reactivating idle furnaces and building new smelting capacity.
“As a result, the country produced over 1.7 million tonnes of ferrochrome in 2024, compared with an average annual output of just 100–200 thousand tonnes over the previous decade.”
While the pace of growth has brought new pressures, the report views Zimbabwe’s experience as a clear demonstration of policy effectiveness.
“Zimbabwe’s experience demonstrates both the potential and the pressures of rapid beneficiation. The ferrochrome sector has grown so quickly that it has become the country’s single largest electricity consumer, forcing producers to seek alternative energy solutions and invest in captive power generation.
“While this underscores the effectiveness of targeted policy in driving value-chain deepening, it also highlights the infrastructure challenges that accompany energy intensive beneficiation at scale.”
Meanwhile, in its executive summary, the report says Africa hosts one of the world’s most diversified and strategically significant mineral endowments, with an estimated US$29.5 trillion in mine-site value – approximately 20% of the global total.
“Of this, US$8.6 trillion remains undeveloped, equivalent to roughly 2.5 times the continent’s annual GDP. Yet Africa captures only a fraction of the value embedded in this resource base.” @nqobilebhebhe-newsda
