What Are Critical Minerals and Why Do They Matter for Malawi?

Critical minerals are essential to clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable power, batteries, and digital infrastructure. As global demand accelerates, these minerals are becoming increasingly important to energy security and industrial growth.

Malawi holds promising deposits of several transition-relevant minerals, including graphite, rare earth elements, manganese, titanium minerals, and emerging lithium prospects. However, realising value from these resources depends first on enabling commercially viable extraction and attracting investment in a highly competitive global market.

Over time, opportunities exist to capture greater value through processing, skills development, and broader industrial capability where this makes economic sense. A pragmatic approach that prioritises extraction, while encouraging downstream investment through appropriate incentives rather than requirements, offers a more realistic pathway for critical minerals to contribute to Malawi’s industrialisation, job creation, and long-term economic resilience.