The University of the Witwatersrand has opened a new research centre to transform speculation about Africa's underground treasures into solid data, potentially boosting exploration investments. Launched in November 2025, the African Research Centre for Ore Systems Science aims to bridge the gap between outdated estimates and actual mineral deposits. This initiative comes amid discussions at the 2026 Mining Indaba on revitalizing Africa's lagging exploration sector.
Africa is believed to hold about 30% of the world's known mineral wealth, but this figure relies on old and sparse data, making it largely speculative. Glen Nwaila, director of the African Research Centre for Ore Systems Science at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), noted, “It is speculative. It could be more than 30%, but no one knows.” The continent receives only about 10% of global exploration spending, much of it from junior miners, despite its vast geological potential.
To address this, Wits launched the centre and the Earth Observatory in November 2025 in Johannesburg's historic mining district. The facilities include advanced tools for geoanalytical techniques, such as sample preparation, geometallurgy, isotopic analysis, and geophysical studies. Nwaila explained during a tour, “The core of the lab is to simplify exploration and tell us what we have and where it is sitting.” The Earth Observatory features a mass spectrometry lab that dates rocks and builds geological models, functioning like a forensic lab to guide future searches.
Exploration spending in Africa has declined from 16% of the global total in 2004 to 10.4% in 2024, lagging behind Australia (19.8%) and Canada (15.9%), even though Africa offers the highest return on investment at 0.8 per dollar spent. Political risks, conflicts like the insurgency in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado—where exploration dropped from $25.5 million in 2014 to $1.4 million in 2024—and policy uncertainties in South Africa hinder progress. In South Africa, the share of global exploration has fallen to 1% from over 5% two decades ago due to application backlogs and delayed mining cadastre implementation.
Positive developments include Zambia's recent reforms under President Hakainde Hichilema and BHP's $500,000 investment in Orion Minerals' Northern Cape projects. At the 2026 Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, exploration remains a key theme, emphasizing its role in unlocking critical minerals for the global economy.
