India wants South Africa’s minerals, but not just from the ground
PRETORIA — India has identified South Africa’s critical minerals, infrastructure and skills base as three areas for significantly deeper cooperation over the next five years, with New Delhi signalling that it wants a relationship extending beyond simply buying the country’s raw mineral resources.
Indian High Commissioner to South Africa Prabhat Kumar said India was interested in sourcing critical minerals from South Africa while also cooperating on beneficiation, potentially aligning one of the world’s fastest growing major economies with Pretoria’s push to capture more value from its mineral wealth before it leaves the country.
The timing is significant. President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to travel to New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit on 12 and 13 September, where trade, investment and sustainable development are among the priorities South Africa intends to advance.
India’s interest comes as competition for critical minerals intensifies globally. Minerals required for renewable energy technologies, batteries, electronics and semiconductors have increasingly become strategic economic assets, forcing governments to reconsider their reliance on concentrated international supply chains.
South Africa has significant deposits of minerals including platinum group metals, manganese and vanadium. Its Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy specifically identifies value addition and localisation, skills development, infrastructure, energy security and regional integration among the pillars needed to extract greater economic benefit from the country’s mineral resources.
That makes Kumar’s comments particularly relevant to South Africa’s long running challenge of moving from mineral extraction towards domestic processing and manufacturing.
India, he said, would require critical minerals as its economy develops, but cooperation could extend to processing those resources locally rather than simply exporting them in their raw form.
The proposal also appears to correspond with South Africa’s own recent approach to India. Deputy President Paul Mashatile told a South Africa India technology, trade and investment roundtable earlier this year that Pretoria wanted more Indian investment in beneficiation and manufacturing, specifically identifying platinum group metals, manganese and vanadium alongside pharmaceuticals and renewable energy technologies.
Infrastructure is another potential area of cooperation. Kumar pointed to India’s railway, port and logistics systems as areas where Indian expertise could be applied in South Africa, where the performance of freight logistics remains central to efforts to unlock greater mining, manufacturing and export capacity.
Skills development forms the third part of India’s proposed expansion.
India already supports the Gandhi Mandela Centre of Specialisation for Artisan Skills at Tshwane South TVET College’s Pretoria West campus and is establishing another skills development centre in Majuba. Kumar said cooperation could expand through universities, curriculum exchanges and other programmes intended to better prepare graduates for employment.
The proposal comes as South Africa prepares a wider overhaul of its skills development system. President Ramaphosa announced earlier this year that government intends to strengthen workplace based training, reform Sector Education and Training Authorities and expand the role of TVET colleges in occupational and artisan development.
Economic ties between the two countries are also widening elsewhere. South African citrus exporters recently secured expanded access to the Indian market after almost a decade of negotiations, while avocado exports have also been approved. India already imports products including South African gold and diamonds and regards South Africa as a potential gateway into the wider African market.
The bigger test will be whether the emerging relationship produces investment and industrial capacity inside South Africa rather than another trade corridor dominated by the export of African raw materials.
India has set itself the goal of becoming a developed economy by 2047. Kumar said South Africa could become an important partner in that journey. For Pretoria, the opportunity will depend on whether India’s growing demand can also help South Africa turn more of what it mines into jobs, skills and higher value products before those resources leave its shores.
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