Uncovering the high value of neglected minerals: ‘Development Minerals’ as inputs for industrial development in North Africa

Abstract

The question of harnessing Africa’s natural resources has been widely debated, with an increasing recognition of the importance of linkage development between commodities and manufacturing for sustainable resource-based industrialization. However, while linkages arising out of high-value mineral resources are at the core of academic attention, opportunities arising out of so-called ‘low-value minerals’ have often been neglected. This paper aims to contribute to the recent efforts attempting to fill this gap by evidencing the ways in which industrial minerals and construction materials can be used as inputs for economic development. More particularly, this paper will do so by examining the mechanisms and industrial strategies behind the development of linkages between these Development Minerals and the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in Africa. This paper starts by laying out a theoretical framework of linkage development, which is then discussed in the context of neglected development minerals. This paper argues that because of certain particularities of industrial minerals (in terms of scale, low-rent generation, technology and capital-intensity), the type of linkages that are likely to maximize the impact of those minerals on manufacturing and agricultural development are forward production linkages. Turning to empirical evidence, this paper reviews two cases of Development Mineral beneficiation as inputs for other sectors, which goes against the conventional wisdom that such minerals have a low impact on manufacturing and the rest of the economy. The first case is the Algerian Cevital Group using sand, dolomite and other industrial minerals as inputs for glass manufacturing as well as its further value-addition through window manufacturing. The second case study involves the activities of the OCP Group in the beneficiation of phosphates into fertilizers in Morocco and its use as inputs for agricultural development across the African region. In conclusion, this project sheds light on the often-neglected opportunities to harness mineral resources in Africa for domestic economic development.