African Mining Week will highlight the role Africa’s domestic capital can play in unlocking the continent’s $8.5 trillion worth of untapped mineral resources.
Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking has approved a $700 million loan to support Ivanhoe Mines’ expansion of the Platreef platinum group metals (PGM) project in South Africa.
The funding will support the construction of the Phase two concentrator at Platreef, a 3.3 million ton-per-annum processing facility whose development began in April 2026.
The transaction comes at a time when South Africa seeks to mobilize R2 trillion over the next five years to unlock its critical minerals potential.
Nedbank’s financing highlights the growing role of South Africa’s banking sector in bridging the capital gap required to develop large-scale mining projects. This is increasingly critical as the country looks to unlock an estimated R40 trillion in iron ore potential, while maintaining its position as the world’s largest PGMs, chrome and manganese producer.
For Africa, the transaction highlights how the region can leverage its domestic capital pools, with non-bank institutional funding sources across Africa now exceeding $2 trillion. Combined with commercial banking and international investment flows, these capital bases can play a central role in unlocking the continent’s $8.5 trillion worth of untapped mineral resources while reducing reliance on external funding sources.
Innovating financing mechanisms will be crucial as an increasing number of mining jurisdictions seek fresh capital to finance mining value chain projects. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo is pursuing financing to unlock an estimated $24 trillion in mineral resources while Zimbabwe seeks to raise $950 million to scale production across gold, lithium, platinum and chrome assets.
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