U.S.-Africa Business Summit 2024: High-Level Dialogue: Critical Minerals - The Crucial Components

On Tuesday, May 7th, the high-level dialogue on “Critical Minerals - The Crucial Components” solely reviewed how the world can accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy with the increased deployment of wind and solar energy and the transition to Electric Vehicles. Oliver Wright moderated the panels with the following guests: H.E. David Sengeh, Chief Minister of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Marit Yayehyirad of the African Minerals Development Center, Jean-Raymond Boulle of The Jean Boulle Group, Abigail Hunter of the SAFE Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, Kurt House of Kobold Metals, and Geoff Pyatt the Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources had clearly addressed the strategies put in place after the COP28 to accelerate the transition to a green economy. The guests started by giving a brief overview of the mining industry from their perspective and gradually joined the panel theme of focus. The chief minister of The Republic of Sierra Leone talked about his country’s history with mining activities and the challenges African nations face, such as the lack of capital, infrastructure, etc., which are detrimental to the acceleration of the energy transition. He was greatly supported by Mr. Jean-Raymond Boulle, who has a long history of mining on the African continent. Mining activities are known to be very capital-intensive and require considerable support from other countries to carry out the work necessary for the energy transition. Furthermore, the CEO of Kobald Metals, Kurt House, talked about the importance of artificial intelligence in the exploration phase of mining as it can help discover significant deposits of critical minerals needed to boost the diversification of sources. He expressed the need to synergize human and artificial intelligence to approach the mining industry’s challenges to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. Panelists have also expressed interest in forming more coalitions of countries to boost the effectiveness of the transition, such as the one around the building of the Lobito Corridor with the United States, E.U., Angola, DRC, and Zambia. In conclusion, the critical takeaways of the panel were the diversification of the supply chain, synergy of countries to address the issues, innovative approaches to solve ongoing challenges, and increased capital to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy.