Africa mining market research, built for decision-makers

What our mining research covers

Global commodity houses tend to treat Africa as a sub-section. We start from the continent: critical minerals policy, project pipelines, permitting and beneficiation rules, and the logistics that decide whether a deposit becomes a cash-generating mine. Mining and logistics are linked in almost every African investment case, so our mining titles look at the corridor as well as the orebody.

• Critical minerals Africa reports: supply, policy direction and project pipelines, with export-logistics constraints and scenario views.
• DRC copper mining and the Copperbelt: leach and smelter economics, reagent supply and export routes.
• Project and tender pipelines: who is developing what, where, and the stage each project has reached, from cited filings and announcements.
• Inputs and reagents: the supply chains for consumables that mines depend on.
• Mine-to-port logistics: rail, road and port routes, and where the bottlenecks sit.

Copperbelt sulphuric acid: a supply question worth tracking

Copper and cobalt operations on the Zambia–DRC Copperbelt that use leaching (solvent extraction and electrowinning) consume sulphuric acid as a core reagent. Acid comes from smelter by-product, dedicated sulphur-burning plants and imports moved over long road and rail corridors, so availability and delivered cost can shift with smelter output, sulphur prices and corridor performance. For a Copperbelt operator, supplier or investor, Copperbelt sulphuric acid supply is a practical risk to model, not a footnote. Our flagship report, Africa's Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Squeeze 2026, covers this in depth, with a free executive summary. Draft free briefs: smelter acid on the Copperbelt and Zambia's acid export permits.

How we make each report

Every claim must trace to a cited source; a claim with no source is removed. Material claims are cross-verified against a second, independent source, numbers are re-extracted and recomputed from source tables, and each key finding carries a High, Medium or Low confidence label. The AfriLens research desk reviews the executive summary and headline figures before release. Read the full methodology.

Mining reports in the catalogue

• Africa's Sulphur & Sulphuric Acid Squeeze 2026 (Flagship Deep-Dive, on sale: R14,500 until 14 Nov, 23:59 SAST · R24,500 from 15 Nov)
• DRC Copper and Cobalt 2026–2030 (Flagship Deep-Dive, on sale: R7,500 until 14 Nov, 23:59 SAST · R12,500 from 15 Nov)

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