Insights: Why a global minerals strategy needs trust and traceability

US President Donald Trump’s official visit to Saudi Arabia has ended, but the most significant work is just getting started. Tucked within a sweeping $600bn package of deals was a lesser-discussed but an essential and strategic agreement: a memorandum of cooperation between the US Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources to collaborate on mining and critical minerals.

It’s an important move — one that acknowledges a basic reality: the US cannot meet its mineral needs from domestic sources alone. In a world where China controls over 75 per cent of global mineral processing, the White House understands that building alternative supply chains isn’t just smart economics — it’s a national security imperative.

The Saudi deal is a meaningful step. The kingdom is moving rapidly to position itself as a key player not just in fossil fuels, but in the minerals and materials that power everything from electric vehicles to semiconductors. Saudi Arabia has the capital, logistics capacity, and ambition to become a major node in global mineral supply.

But if this US-Saudi partnership is to live up to its promise, it needs something that neither country can provide alone: Africa. Specifically, it needs Africa’s miners — and the traceability systems that make their mineral exports viable on the global stage.

Mineral economy: Why Africa holds the key

Africa is central to the global mineral economy. From cobalt in the DRC to lithium in Zimbabwe and rare earths in Burundi, the continent holds — and is actively producing — many of the critical inputs that fuel today’s technologies. Much of this production comes not from large, industrial mines, but from small-scale or artisanal operations that have already plugged into mineral supply chains in regional and global trade routes.

But there’s a catch: multinational buyers and governments increasingly require verified, traceable, and conflict-free sources. See Apple’s DRC moment, which made global headlines and caused significant issues for both parties. Without accountability, these minerals — no matter how plentiful — can’t plug into secure supply chains. Brands don’t want headlines linking them to child labour or unregulated operations. Nor should they.

That’s why traceability must be treated as a precondition for success in any minerals supply chain deal.

At Sabi, we’ve been building TRACE, a digital platform that connects underresourced miners with global buyers through verifiable, trackable data. It allows shipments of antimony from Nigeria, tungsten from the DRC, bauxite from Tanzania, as well as others, to carry the documentation that today’s companies and governments demand — proof of origin, transport records, and compliance logs that bring transparency to a traditionally opaque sector.

Most informal miners want access to tools, to markets, to financing that helps them stabilise and scale. With some structure — training, purchase agreements, working capital — they can meet the quality and volume targets global buyers are seeking. The bottleneck isn’t capacity — it’s trust.

Opening the door to new ecosystems

The Saudi deal opens the door to reimagined supply chains. But for the US to truly shift away from Chinese dependency, it needs scale. And scale doesn’t come from one country. It comes from building an ecosystem. Saudi Arabia can be the logistics and processing hub. But Africa, with its existing production base and motivated operators, can be the supply engine.

This isn’t about choosing between partners. It’s about building layered resilience. If Saudi Arabia is the node, Africa is the network. Both are necessary.

The conversations happening between ministries and heads of state are important. But minerals don’t move because a memorandum was signed. They move because people on the ground — miners, traders, transporters — are engaged, equipped, and empowered.

In my work across West and Central Africa, I’ve seen firsthand how ready these actors are. They’re asking for consistency, not aid. They want pricing transparency, not a handout. What they lack is the infrastructure that connects their work to the high standards global buyers expect. That’s a solvable problem.

If the US builds on the momentum from this Saudi agreement and brings Africa’s small miners into the picture — with traceability and financing tools built in — it can unlock new sources of supply, reduce costs, and create a broader network of secure, democratic partners.

The writer is the  co-founder and president of Sabi, the leading B2B platform connecting African miners with global buyers through technology and traceability.