Critical minerals
Financing Africa’s critical minerals through US capital
The resources America needs are in Africa. The governance and disclosure to invest in them responsibly is what MSM brings.
Why now
In November 2025 the US Geological Survey expanded its List of Critical Minerals to 60 commodities, adding copper, uranium, silicon, potash, phosphate and silver to a list already led by rare earths. The USGS assessed rhodium, gallium, germanium, tungsten, niobium, magnesium, potash and several rare earths as carrying the highest supply risk. America imported roughly 80% of the rare earths it used in the prior year.
What is actually missing
Sub-Saharan Africa holds commercial concentrations of most of these minerals. The constraint is not geology but an investable pathway: title an American institution can rely on, counterparties it can contract with, and disclosure that survives a compliance review.
MSM’s role is to be the Africa-fluent operating bridge between the two.
How we choose where to look
- Stable, elected government. No jurisdiction under military rule or active civil conflict.
- A functioning mining code. Title that can be held, transferred and defended in a court.
- Sanctions-clear. No counterparty a US compliance team would have to decline.
- A route to port. Existing rail or road to a working export terminal, not a promised one.
These filters are applied before a jurisdiction reaches the table below, so several of Africa’s largest deposits do not appear. Volume is not the constraint. Bankability is.
All sixty minerals on the 2025 US list, and where each can be sourced
| Mineral | US list | Why America needs it | Where it can be sourced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminium (bauxite) | Listed | Transport, packaging, construction and transmission lines. | Ghana (Awaso) · Somalia (Goof Gaduud, reported) |
| Antimony | Listed | Flame retardants, lead-acid batteries and semiconductors. | South Africa (Murchison belt) |
| Arsenic | Listed | Semiconductor compounds and alloying. Recovered only as a smelter by-product. | By-product only. Not pursued as a primary product. |
| Barite | Listed | Drilling fluids for oil and gas, and radiation shielding. | Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria · Somalia (vein barite, reported) |
| Beryllium | Listed | Aerospace components, precision instruments and electronics. | Rwanda, Madagascar, Nigeria (beryl pegmatites) |
| Bismuth | Listed | Non-toxic replacement for lead, pharmaceuticals and low-melting alloys. | By-product of lead and tungsten. Morocco, Rwanda, at small scale. |
| Boron | Listed | Borosilicate glass, fibreglass, fertilizer and permanent magnets. | No material source in the jurisdictions on this list. |
| Cerium | Listed · rare earth | Catalytic converters, glass polishing and alloys. | Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, South Africa · Somalia (coastal sands, reported) |
| Cesium | Listed | Drilling fluids, atomic clocks and photoelectric cells. | Namibia (Karibib pegmatites, historical production) |
| Chromium | Listed | Stainless steel and corrosion-resistant coatings. | South Africa, Madagascar |
| Cobalt | Listed | Battery cathodes and superalloys for civil aviation engines. | Morocco (Bou Azzer), Madagascar |
| Copper | Added 2025 | Grid build-out, data centres and electrification. | Zambia (Copperbelt), Botswana, Namibia · Somalia (reported) |
| Dysprosium | Highest risk · rare earth | High-temperature magnets that hold their strength in motors and turbines. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Erbium | Listed · rare earth | Fibre-optic amplifiers and laser surgery. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Europium | Listed · rare earth | Phosphors in displays, lighting and anti-counterfeit inks. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Fluorspar | Listed | Refrigerants, aluminium smelting and lithium battery electrolytes. | Morocco, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya |
| Gadolinium | Highest risk · rare earth | MRI contrast agents, and control rods in civil reactors. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Gallium | Highest risk | Semiconductors, LEDs and solar cells. A by-product of bauxite and zinc. | Ghana, Namibia (as a refining by-product) |
| Germanium | Highest risk | Fibre optics, infrared optics and solar cells. A by-product of zinc. | Namibia (Tsumeb district) |
| Graphite | Listed | Anode material in every lithium-ion battery. | Tanzania, Madagascar |
| Hafnium | Listed | Superalloys, semiconductors and reactor control rods. Comes with zircon. | Senegal, South Africa |
| Holmium | Listed · rare earth | Solid-state lasers and the strongest artificial magnetic fields. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Indium | Listed | Touchscreens and thin-film solar. A by-product of zinc. | Namibia, Morocco (as a refining by-product) |
| Iridium | Listed · platinum group | Electrolysers for hydrogen, spark plugs and crucibles. | South Africa (Bushveld Complex) |
| Lanthanum | Listed · rare earth | Refinery catalysts, camera optics and battery alloys. | Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Lead | Added 2025 | Batteries, radiation shielding and cable sheathing. | Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia |
| Lithium | Listed | Battery cathodes and grid storage. | Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia · Somalia (pegmatites, reported) |
| Lutetium | Highest risk · rare earth | PET scanner detectors and refinery catalysts. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Magnesium | Highest risk | Lightweight alloys, and magnesia for steel and cement kiln linings. | South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya (magnesite) |
| Manganese | Listed | Steel alloying and battery chemistries. | Ghana (Nsuta), South Africa · Somalia (with iron ore, reported) |
| Metallurgical coal | Added 2025 | Steelmaking. Added to the list in 2025 at the request of the Department of Energy. | South Africa · Somalia (coal reported at Hawaay, unassessed) |
| Neodymium | Listed · rare earth | The workhorse magnet metal: EV motors, wind turbines, robotics. | Malawi, Angola (Longonjo), Tanzania, South Africa |
| Nickel | Listed | Stainless steel and high-density battery cathodes. | Tanzania, Botswana, Madagascar |
| Niobium | Highest risk | Microalloyed steel for pipelines, bridges and vehicle bodies. | Nigeria (Jos belt), Rwanda · Somalia (columbite, reported) |
| Palladium | Listed · platinum group | Catalytic converters and electronics. | South Africa (Bushveld Complex) |
| Phosphate | Added 2025 | Fertilizer and food security. North Africa holds the largest reserves in the world. | Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt · Somalia (Modu Mode apatite, reported) |
| Platinum | Listed · platinum group | Catalysts, hydrogen electrolysers, glass and medical devices. | South Africa (Bushveld Complex) |
| Potash | Highest risk, added 2025 | Fertilizer, and therefore food security. | Ethiopia (Danakil) |
| Praseodymium | Listed · rare earth | Magnet alloys, aircraft engines and coloured glass. | Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Rhenium | Added 2025 | Superalloys for turbine blades, and refinery catalysts. | No primary source in scope. Potential by-product of Zambian copper. |
| Rhodium | Highest risk · platinum group | Catalytic converters. The highest-risk commodity on the 2025 list. | South Africa (Bushveld Complex) |
| Rubidium | Listed | Atomic clocks, specialty glass and research instruments. | Trace by-product of Namibian pegmatites. No commercial source in scope. |
| Ruthenium | Listed · platinum group | Hard-disk coatings, electronics and catalysts. | South Africa (Bushveld Complex) |
| Samarium | Highest risk · rare earth | Magnets that work at extreme temperatures. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Scandium | Listed | Aluminium-scandium alloys for aerospace, and fuel cells. | Madagascar (potential by-product of nickel laterite) |
| Silicon | Added 2025 | Semiconductors, solar panels and alloys, from high-purity silica sand. | Egypt, Madagascar · Somalia (Marka silica sand, reported) |
| Silver | Added 2025 | Solar cells, electronics and medical imaging. | Morocco (Imiter district) |
| Tantalum | Listed | Capacitors in phones, medical implants and instruments. | Nigeria (Jos belt), Rwanda · Somalia (Berbera sands, reported) |
| Tellurium | Listed | Thin-film solar panels and thermoelectric devices. | By-product of copper refining. Potential in Zambia. |
| Terbium | Highest risk · rare earth | High-temperature magnets and green phosphors. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Thulium | Listed · rare earth | Portable X-ray sources and surgical lasers. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Tin | Listed | Solder for every circuit board, and tinplate packaging. | Nigeria (Jos belt), Rwanda · Somalia (reported) |
| Titanium | Listed | Civil aircraft alloys and paint pigment, from heavy mineral sands. | Senegal, South Africa, Kenya |
| Tungsten | Highest risk | Cutting tools, drill bits and mining equipment. | Rwanda |
| Uranium | Added 2025 | Civil nuclear power and the reactor build-out in the US and allied markets. | Namibia (Erongo) · Somalia (Alio Ghelle and Galmudug, exploration stage) |
| Vanadium | Listed | High-strength steel and grid-scale flow batteries. | South Africa, Namibia |
| Ytterbium | Listed · rare earth | Fibre lasers, atomic clocks and stainless steel additives. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Yttrium | Highest risk · rare earth | Superalloys, phosphors and thermal barrier coatings on turbine blades. | Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa |
| Zinc | Listed | Galvanised steel, batteries and construction. | Namibia, Morocco, Nigeria |
| Zirconium | Listed | Ceramics, foundry sand and nuclear fuel cladding. | Senegal, South Africa |
The sixty minerals and the highest-risk designations are taken from the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, published by the USGS in the Federal Register on 7 November 2025. Fifteen of the sixty are rare earth elements. Sourcing shows where deposits are documented in jurisdictions MSM can work in: it is not a statement of MSM’s licence holdings, and it is not a statement of reserves. Where no viable source exists in those jurisdictions, the table says so rather than filling the gap. Cobalt sourcing deliberately excludes the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On Somalia. Entries marked reported or exploration stage rest on UN, USGS and Somali geological surveys from the 1970s and 1980s. Less than a fifth of known prospects have been surveyed to modern standards, and no Somali entry here is a proven reserve. Security conditions in parts of the country are a live constraint on fieldwork. MSM’s interest in Somalia today is the reconstruction market for cement, power and logistics; the mineral position is a longer-dated option that would begin with survey work, not extraction. Somalia also holds high-grade limestone and gypsum suitable for cement near Berbera and Baardheere.
What MSM brings to a minerals transaction
- Proof that MSM adds value to a resource. The OML 98 re-interpretation applies equally to under-evaluated mineral deposits.
- Infrastructure the mining sector lacks. Power and haulage are what strand African deposits.
- US disclosure discipline. MSM works to the standards a US-registered vehicle requires, including FCPA compliance and documented governance.
- Relationships that unlock title. Received at the highest levels in Nigeria, Kenya and Somalia, under written agreements.
MSM’s current operating assets are in oil and gas, cement, power, logistics and agriculture. Minerals participation would be structured with licence holders and host governments, and disclosed as such.