Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AfricaMaVal (Building EU-Africa partnerships on sustainable raw materials value chain)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-06-01 al 2023-11-30
Secure the access to raw materials represents a critical issue for European ambition to deliver the Green Deal and perform the energy and digital twin transition. As future demand of primary critical raw materials will continue to be largely met by importations, the EU needs to diversify its supply chain and engage strategic partnerships with resources-rich third countries covering extraction, processing and refining such as African countries.
In this context, the AfricaMaVal project aims to develop an EU-Africa partnership ensuring a responsible sourcing of mineral resources for the European industry while granting a sustainable local co-development in the best Environmental, Social and Governance conditions and leading to a long-terms business environment for European and African companies. The consortium, created with partners coming both from Africa and Europe, is made of experienced organizations and networks deeply anchored and involved in the raw material domain with a specific expertise and knowledge of African culture, organisations, difficulties and resources.
The mineral, financial, environmental, social, institutional and economical aspects will be studied along with all the value chains, including the ASSM activities, to the project completion to reach its operational targets:
- Building an EU and Africa business network on the whole CRM value chains.
- Developing a strategy on the integration of identified and emerging EU and African raw materials value chains for the energy and digital transition.
- Assessing responsible investment opportunities.
The AfricaMaVal project will conduct ten case studies in African countries and an evaluation of 100 investment opportunities, a wide dissemination within Europe and Africa to promote responsible sourcing and will implement a sustainable organisation after the completion of the project.
AfricaMaVal offers an opportunity to systematically identify mining, processing and/or refining projects, potential pockets of liquidity for these projects and infrastructure debottlenecking opportunities to develop the supply chain. To develop projects along the value chain by building partnerships between project promoters, services and equipment providers, European offtakers and financing parties. To provide project promoters with the tools to successfully develop their project, through capacity building exercises around relevant international Environmental Social and Governance standards and detailed explanation around minimum requirements and typical assessment exercises undertaken by funding parties when considering a potential funding opportunity.
The Extended Critical Raw Materials or ECRMs are the 30 Critical Raw Materials included on the Fourth CRM List (September 2020) except for coking coal and natural rubber. And the following commodities: Copper, Nickel, Tin and Manganese.
AfricaMaVal as a project is due to be implemented over 3.5 years starting in June 2022.
In practical terms, AfricaMaVal will provide (see table attached).
In this context, the AfricaMaVal project aims to develop an EU-Africa partnership ensuring a responsible sourcing of mineral resources for the European industry while granting a sustainable local co-development in the best Environmental, Social and Governance conditions and leading to a long-terms business environment for European and African companies. The consortium, created with partners coming both from Africa and Europe, is made of experienced organizations and networks deeply anchored and involved in the raw material domain with a specific expertise and knowledge of African culture, organisations, difficulties and resources.
The mineral, financial, environmental, social, institutional and economical aspects will be studied along with all the value chains, including the ASSM activities, to the project completion to reach its operational targets:
- Building an EU and Africa business network on the whole CRM value chains.
- Developing a strategy on the integration of identified and emerging EU and African raw materials value chains for the energy and digital transition.
- Assessing responsible investment opportunities.
The AfricaMaVal project will conduct ten case studies in African countries and an evaluation of 100 investment opportunities, a wide dissemination within Europe and Africa to promote responsible sourcing and will implement a sustainable organisation after the completion of the project.
AfricaMaVal offers an opportunity to systematically identify mining, processing and/or refining projects, potential pockets of liquidity for these projects and infrastructure debottlenecking opportunities to develop the supply chain. To develop projects along the value chain by building partnerships between project promoters, services and equipment providers, European offtakers and financing parties. To provide project promoters with the tools to successfully develop their project, through capacity building exercises around relevant international Environmental Social and Governance standards and detailed explanation around minimum requirements and typical assessment exercises undertaken by funding parties when considering a potential funding opportunity.
The Extended Critical Raw Materials or ECRMs are the 30 Critical Raw Materials included on the Fourth CRM List (September 2020) except for coking coal and natural rubber. And the following commodities: Copper, Nickel, Tin and Manganese.
AfricaMaVal as a project is due to be implemented over 3.5 years starting in June 2022.
In practical terms, AfricaMaVal will provide (see table attached).
The work is performed through 3 main objectives as described hereafter :
Objective 1 of the project aims to contribute to responsible sourcing for reinforcing Europe's industrial leadership.
- Sub-objective 1.1 falling under the activities of Work Package 1 (WP1), focuses on creating a Pan-African inventory of Extended Critical Raw Materials (ECRM) supply potential and existing ore processing and refining capacities. The team completed an inventory of African ECRMs occurrences and mining sites, resulting in an Inspire-compliant database with over 22,000 data points. This includes information on ore processing and refining facilities for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) and Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASSM).
Special attention was given to Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) activities, resulting in a report identifying 18 countries with active or recent artisanal production of critical raw materials. The report underscores the significance of artisanal mining for various commodities, emphasizing the potential for these countries to contribute to critical mineral supply.
Sub-objective 1.2 falling under WP2, aims to identify, assess, and quantify opportunities and recommendations along the ECRMs value chain. Task 2.1 involves collecting information on potential industrial-sized ECRM projects, and the deliverables contribute to KPI 1.2. The final deliverable, D2.3 due in January 2024, will analyze potential bottlenecks and identify investment opportunities in the ECRM value chain.
Sub-objective 1.3 under WP4, focuses on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation and challenges. The analysis covered mining regimes in the 10 Case Study countries, providing insights into minerals policies, regulations, community engagement, and other ESG aspects. This forms the basis for creating "best in Africa" factsheets, scheduled for completion in Month 30.
Objective 2 aims to stimulate EU-Africa partnerships in the raw materials sector.
Sub-objective 2.1 involves building a business networking platform across ECRM value chains (WP5, delayed to February 2024).
Sub-objective 2.2 focuses on developing professional education and training courses (Task 5.2 mid-2024).
Sub-objective 2.3 led by HCF International Advisers Limited, aims to identify financing and investment instruments for raw material projects in Africa (due in M30).
Objective 3 aims to foster sustainable EU-Africa partnerships and investments along the raw materials value chain.
Sub-objective 3.1 evaluates responsible investment opportunities, with KPI 3.1 targeting a list of 100 opportunities by February 2025.
Sub-objective 3.2 involves the EU-Africa Raw Materials Networking Platform, to be completed in February 2024.
Sub-objective 3.3 includes tasks across WP2, WP4, WP6, and WP7, aiming to develop a responsible sourcing strategy and assess benchmarking criteria for attractive EU-Africa investment opportunities (KPI 3.3 and KPI 3.4). It will be met at the end of the project.
Objective 1 of the project aims to contribute to responsible sourcing for reinforcing Europe's industrial leadership.
- Sub-objective 1.1 falling under the activities of Work Package 1 (WP1), focuses on creating a Pan-African inventory of Extended Critical Raw Materials (ECRM) supply potential and existing ore processing and refining capacities. The team completed an inventory of African ECRMs occurrences and mining sites, resulting in an Inspire-compliant database with over 22,000 data points. This includes information on ore processing and refining facilities for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) and Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASSM).
Special attention was given to Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) activities, resulting in a report identifying 18 countries with active or recent artisanal production of critical raw materials. The report underscores the significance of artisanal mining for various commodities, emphasizing the potential for these countries to contribute to critical mineral supply.
Sub-objective 1.2 falling under WP2, aims to identify, assess, and quantify opportunities and recommendations along the ECRMs value chain. Task 2.1 involves collecting information on potential industrial-sized ECRM projects, and the deliverables contribute to KPI 1.2. The final deliverable, D2.3 due in January 2024, will analyze potential bottlenecks and identify investment opportunities in the ECRM value chain.
Sub-objective 1.3 under WP4, focuses on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation and challenges. The analysis covered mining regimes in the 10 Case Study countries, providing insights into minerals policies, regulations, community engagement, and other ESG aspects. This forms the basis for creating "best in Africa" factsheets, scheduled for completion in Month 30.
Objective 2 aims to stimulate EU-Africa partnerships in the raw materials sector.
Sub-objective 2.1 involves building a business networking platform across ECRM value chains (WP5, delayed to February 2024).
Sub-objective 2.2 focuses on developing professional education and training courses (Task 5.2 mid-2024).
Sub-objective 2.3 led by HCF International Advisers Limited, aims to identify financing and investment instruments for raw material projects in Africa (due in M30).
Objective 3 aims to foster sustainable EU-Africa partnerships and investments along the raw materials value chain.
Sub-objective 3.1 evaluates responsible investment opportunities, with KPI 3.1 targeting a list of 100 opportunities by February 2025.
Sub-objective 3.2 involves the EU-Africa Raw Materials Networking Platform, to be completed in February 2024.
Sub-objective 3.3 includes tasks across WP2, WP4, WP6, and WP7, aiming to develop a responsible sourcing strategy and assess benchmarking criteria for attractive EU-Africa investment opportunities (KPI 3.3 and KPI 3.4). It will be met at the end of the project.
The first 18 months of the project have been primarily dedicated to the state of the art of the entire value chain of the ECRM.
It is still too early for results to be usable and made public.
This part will only be developed in the second technical reporting, once the B2B platform is operational.
It is still too early for results to be usable and made public.
This part will only be developed in the second technical reporting, once the B2B platform is operational.