News release
jon.wallace
Chatham House staff and associate fellows engaged with national and industry leaders throughout Indaba 2026, the African mining event.
Chatham House was a strategic partner for the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026 Conference, held from 9–12 February in Cape Town, South Africa.
Throughout the Indaba week, Chatham House staff and associate fellows engaged with national and industry leaders and participated on panels and side events, adding value to discussions about how Africa should respond to the global critical minerals race and harness potential benefits for national development.
Chatham House was also a knowledge partner for a ministerial symposium held on 8 February, which saw mining ministers from across the continent join CEOs, industry and political leaders to discuss the key challenges facing the sector and its relationship with impacted societies.
Chatham House and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) facilitated a roundtable as part of the symposium that generated new thinking on permitting, industrialization and infrastructure linkages.
The Chatham House engagement marked a new collaboration between the Institute’s Critical Minerals Initiative (CMI) and Africa Programme.
Christopher Vandome, head of the CMI, said:
‘The inclusion of global think tanks and development organizations as partners for the Mining Indaba highlights the growing geopolitical relevance of the industry, and political influence and intervention in minerals supply chains in ways we have not seen for decades.
‘Nations are securing the supply chains of mined material that build our modern world, across manufacturing, digitization, energy and security. The steps taken by the US and other global actors in response to China’s domination of mineral supply chains will reshape the global economy.
‘We have moved beyond discussions of resource nationalism, to acknowledging that state equity in mining and processing companies is the new norm and countries without a stake will be left behind. How this is managed, and how governments engage, will determine who reaps the biggest rewards.’
Tighisti Amare, Africa Programme director, said:
‘From the panels we spoke on, meetings we held and extensive engagements that we had across the week it is clear that mining has moved up the global political agenda.
‘Yet deep-rooted challenges persist across the sector in Africa, including how international demand for minerals can contribute to regional development across the continent. Chatham House has an important role as a trusted and independent convenor and thought leader to work with partners in finding solutions to these challenges.’