Minister Park Tau: Critical Minerals Roundtable Session
Keynote address by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau, Critical Minerals Roundtable Session, 24 September 2026.
Distinguished business leaders and executives, Members of the South African delegation, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning and thank you for joining us for this important discussion on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.
Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to Brand South Africa and Standard Bank, for working with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to bring together senior business and investment stakeholders.
We value this opportunity because the conversation we need to have today is not simply about minerals. It is about how South Africa and the United States can build more resilient supply chains, deepen industrial cooperation, mobilise investment and create greater value from the resources that South Africa possesses.
Why Critical Minerals Matter to the Bilateral Relationship
The global economy is undergoing significant industrial and technological transformation. Critical minerals are increasingly important to batteries, advanced manufacturing, defence technologies, artificial intelligence, grid infrastructure, clean-energy systems and the hydrogen economy.
South Africa has a strong proposition in this emerging environment. We have globally significant reserves and production capabilities in platinum group metals, manganese, chromium and vanadium, together with opportunities in rare earth elements and titanium and zirconium resources.
Our objective is to use this resource base to build durable industrial partnerships. We do not want to define the relationship simply as one in which South Africa extracts and exports raw materials. We want to build value chains that include mining, refining, processing, advanced materials, component manufacturing and, where commercially viable, downstream production.
The Opportunity for South Africa and the United States
For the United States, the strategic interest is clear: secure, diversified and resilient sources of critical minerals and industrial inputs. For South Africa, the opportunity is to attract investment, technology, skills, long-term offtake commitments and market access that enable us to move further up the value chain.
This creates the basis for a partnership in which both countries address a strategic economic need. South Africa can contribute mineral resources, processing capability, industrial infrastructure and access to regional value chains, while U.S. companies can bring capital, technology, markets, industrial expertise and long-term demand.
Our proposition is therefore one of partnership and co-investment, rather than a traditional supplier relationship.
From Extraction to Beneficiation
South Africa's policy direction is clear: our mineral endowment must become a foundation for industrialisation, beneficiation, localisation and job creation.
In practical terms, this means developing opportunities in areas such as: Battery materials, including manganese and other precursor materials.
Vanadium products and vanadium electrolyte for grid-scale energy storage. PGM-based products, including catalyst materials and components for the hydrogen economy. Green iron, steel and ferroalloys.
Specialised metals and industrial inputs. Grid and transmission infrastructure manufacturing.
Emerging rare earth, titanium and zirconium value chains.
The emphasis must be on commercially viable projects. We are not here simply to discuss beneficiation in principle. We want to identify projects that can be developed, financed, built and integrated into global markets.
South Africa's Proposition to U.S. Business
I would like to highlight five elements of the proposition we are bringing to this discussion.
First, strategic supply security. South Africa can contribute to reducing vulnerabilities in concentrated global supply chains through a significant and diversified mineral base.
Second, value addition. We want partnerships that move beyond mining into refining, processing, advanced materials and manufacturing.
Third, regional scale. South Africa can serve as a platform into wider Southern African value chains and the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Fourth, alignment with U.S. industrial priorities. Our critical minerals can support energy security, defence, advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles, hydrogen and grid infrastructure.
Fifth, investable projects. We are working to translate the mineral opportunity into a pipeline of projects capable of attracting capital, technology and long-term offtake.
What South Africa is Doing to Improve the Investment Environment
We recognise that mineral endowment alone is not sufficient. Investors require infrastructure, reliable energy, efficient logistics, appropriate regulation, finance and certainty around markets.
South Africa is therefore pursuing reforms and partnerships to address these constraints. The country has experienced more than a year without load shedding by mid-2026, with improved plant availability. Private participation is being introduced on core freight rail corridors, while reforms under Operation Vulindlela are addressing ports and logistics.
We are also working to support energy-intensive industrial activities through appropriate electricity pricing arrangements and are using our Special Economic Zones and investment facilitation instruments to support manufacturing and processing investment.
The message is straightforward: we understand the concerns of investors, and we are working to create conditions under which commercially viable projects can move from interest to implementation.
What We Are Seeking from U.S. Partners
Our request to U.S. business and investment partners is practical.
We are seeking investment in midstream processing and beneficiation facilities in South Africa.
We are seeking technology partnerships and the transfer of processing and manufacturing know-how.
We are seeking long-term offtake agreements that can provide bankable demand and strengthen project financeability.
We are seeking collaboration on infrastructure, including energy, rail, ports, water and industrial infrastructure.
We are seeking workable market access arrangements that enable beneficiated South African products to participate competitively in U.S. value chains.
We are seeking partnerships in technical training, skills development, research and development and commercialisation.
These elements are interconnected. A processing project needs capital and technology; capital needs confidence in the market; and the market needs reliable supply and competitive products. That is why we should approach this as an integrated industrial partnership.
Proposed Critical Minerals Investment Platform
We propose the development of a Critical Minerals Investment Platform through which priority projects can be assessed for development support, co-funding and investment.
The platform could bring together relevant South African institutions, including the Industrial Development Corporation and other development finance institutions, with U.S. partners such as the Development Finance Corporation, EXIM Bank, private funds and strategic corporations.
The objective should be to move projects through the investment pipeline — from project preparation and technical assessment, through financing and construction, to production and export.
We should also use long-term offtake arrangements as an instrument to strengthen bankability. Where a U.S. company requires a secure supply of a particular mineral or processed product, that commercial demand can become an anchor for investment in South African production and processing capacity.
A South Africa–USA Critical Minerals Working Group
I would also like to propose that we establish a South Africa–USA Critical Minerals Working Group as a practical mechanism for taking this conversation forward.
The Working Group should identify priority minerals and products, match South African projects with U.S. industrial demand, identify financing and technology requirements, address market-access issues and monitor progress towards actual investment and offtake agreements.
Our intention is that the work should begin immediately and should not become another dialogue mechanism without implementation. We need clear priorities, responsible institutions, timelines and measurable outcomes.
Regional and African Dimension 5
South Africa also offers something that extends beyond our national borders. We can anchor a wider Southern African critical minerals platform.
The region has complementary resources and capabilities — including cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo, copper from Zambia, lithium from Zimbabwe, graphite from Mozambique and other mineral resources across SADC.
South Africa can contribute processing capability, logistics, financial services, industrial infrastructure and access to the wider African market through the AfCFTA.
This creates an opportunity to build regional value chains rather than simply exporting unprocessed minerals from the continent.
Closing Call to Action
Let me conclude by emphasising that this Roundtable should be a starting point, not an end point.
South Africa is ready to engage with U.S. companies that are looking for secure sources of critical minerals and industrial inputs, and with investors that are prepared to participate in processing, manufacturing and infrastructure.
We want to move from conversations about opportunity to discussions about specific projects, specific investors, specific technologies, specific offtake requirements and specific financing solutions.
The partnership we are proposing is therefore about more than minerals. It is about building resilient supply chains, supporting industrialisation, creating jobs, developing skills and establishing South Africa as a reliable participant in the next generation of global value chains.
I invite the companies and institutions represented around this table to engage with us on the projects and value chains where there is a genuine commercial fit. Let us use this UNGA engagement to identify a small number of concrete opportunities that can be taken forward immediately and developed into long-term South Africa–U.S. industrial partnerships.
Thank you, and I look forward to the discussion.
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