A 350 page Report by Pietro Guj, Richard Schodde, Boubacar Bocoum and James Cust, published by The World Bank October 2025
This Report was commissioned by The World Bank with the purpose of identifying and showcasing the rich opportunities for mining in Africa.
In detail … The report highlights Africa’s rich endowment of twenty-six key minerals, underscoring the continent’s growing strategic importance in the global shift to clean energy and advanced technologies.
It provides a comprehensive regional assessment of Africa’s mineral prospectivity, identifying promising areas for exploration. With the energy transition driving renewed exploration and investment, Africa’s competitive advantage lies in its high geological potential and relatively lower discovery costs.
The report further emphasizes the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in mineral exploration and calls for greater efforts to strengthen geoscientific data systems to maximize technological innovation and improve exploration outcomes. The renewed global interest in Africa’s mineral resources presents a significant opportunity to attract responsible investment. By implementing balanced regulatory and fiscal frameworks, African nations can unlock innovation, expand processing and infrastructure, and foster broad-based, sustainable economic growth across the continent.
The full Report (58 MB in-size) can be downloaded from the World Bank’s website at:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/mineral-resources-of-africa
The Report is based on a detailed compilation (by MinEx Consulting) of 1888 significant mineral deposits in Africa. It has information on the location, size, commodity type, discovery year and current status.
You can download the data-set via either the following two links … with the first listing the deposits by country, and the second listing them by commodity.