Challenging (mis)perceptions and accelerating economic growth

The Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG) was established last year with an investors-eye view of the African mining space, which can be shaped by geopolitics more than most sectors, says Veronica Bolton Smith, founder and CEO of CMAG.

“It can be quite a confusing space for an investor - from price volatility to financing, access, and geopolitical tensions - so we recognised we had to do a lot of work with governments on what they needed to do to attract investors,” says Bolton Smith, who has spent two decades working in Africa-focused trade and investment.

“Our whole ethos is how do we help investment to flow, and encourage economic growth. That is our theory of change. So our group works with the industry, both junior miners and majors. We work with ancillary services: consultants, law firms, tax. There’s also a very strong pillar of government interaction to establish what their strategies are, and how to help funnel into industrialisation and to grow economies.”

Talking with BoltonSmith, her passion shines through alongside her deep expertise.

Recently nominated for the International Trade Excellence Award by the African Business Chamber, she has worked in the African trade and investment space since the early 2000s, from roles in the British government’s Department for International Development (looking after energy, minerals, and water) to private consulting and strategy for large global and African companies, and African governments.

“Africa is always a common thread, but in different guises, whether public or private sector,” says Bolton-Smith, who is of East African extraction and grew up in South-West London but has been regularly visiting Africa, where much of her family lives, since she was six months old. “My job has always been to connect investors to opportunities, and over my career I’ve worked with about 30 countries in Africa on how they package foreign investment.” 

CMAG is committed to giving Africa and the companies operating within its critical minerals ecosystem a strong voice at the global table, with a mission to enable the creation of resilient and diversified supply chains that benefit local communities, and to accelerate development through the capture of value-adding activities. 

Critical minerals go beyond ‘battery minerals’, notes Bolton-Smith, though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably in the media. While the global energy transition is key, CMAG is also focused on the minerals that are critical to African nations’ development, including traditionally mined minerals such as gold or iron ore. 

“We advocate for clearer thinking around what would accelerate economic growth, as we need to think more broadly around what minerals each African country has. What are their minerals we would call critical or strategic and can be processed at costs that wouldn’t be prohibitive?We create a platform for understanding this whole space.”

The CMAG team also includes leading economist Dr Theo Acheampong, a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, as its Head of Research and Markets, and geologist Olimpia Pilch as Chief Strategy Officer.