Rare earths – when Africa invents new value chains

Two announcements in South Africa and Malawi are reshaping the global rare earths market. The first turns industrial waste into a strategic resource. The second locks in a long-term supply contract with Australia. POINT FOCUS breaks down what is at stake—and why these signals are excellent news for Africa.

From Phalaborwa to Malawi, Africa’s critical metals are finding their place in the batteries, motors and wind turbines of tomorrow.

Phalaborwa: when waste becomes a resource

In Phalaborwa, a former mining town in north-eastern South Africa, Rainbow Rare Earths has succeeded in extracting rare earths from… phosphogypsum. This whitish by-product of the fertiliser industry, long stored in vast waste piles, actually contains critical metals such as neodymium and praseodymium—essential components of magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Using an innovative continuous separation process, the company says it has achieved purity levels above 90%. “These results confirm Phalaborwa’s potential to become one of the lowest-cost rare earth producers outside China,” said chief executive George Bennett. In other words, an environmental liability is being turned into a strategic asset.

Kangankunde: a contract that secures downstream processing

Further north, in Malawi, the Kangankunde project is also preparing to enter the big leagues. Its operator, Lindian Resources, has just signed a fifteen-year supply agreement with Australia’s Iluka Resources. The deal covers 600 tonnes per year of monazite concentrate—a mineral rich in rare earths—amounting to 900 tonnes in total.

To finance construction, Iluka is providing a US$20 million loan (around CFA 12 billion). The Malawian feedstock will then be refined at Iluka’s Eneabba facility in Western Australia, the first integrated rare earths refinery outside China, scheduled to come on stream in 2027. In its official statement, Iluka noted that this is “an example of Iluka catalysing a new mine into production as a customer refiner”.

An African value chain at the heart of the global game

Together, these two initiatives speak volumes. On the one hand, South Africa shows that it is possible to build a secondary value chain by upgrading industrial waste. On the other, Malawi is positioning itself within an international value chain by securing a long-term end customer.

For observers, the message is clear: the continent is no longer merely a source of raw materials, but also a laboratory for new processes and an essential contractual link. At a time when around 90% of rare earth refining is still carried out in China, these developments are game-changers. They diversify supply, reassure investors and place Africa at the centre of an energy transition driven as much by innovation as by integration into global markets.

By I.Z.