Other National Surveys
The African continent contains some of the world’s richest mineral resources. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces most of the world’s cobalt; Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique are major contributors to global tantalum output.
The continent also has the bulk of global reserves of platinum and palladium, metals which are critical in the rapidly evolving market for renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa only five countries currently undertake active geoscientific work: South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Namibia and Tanzania.
The country that produces the most definitive resource report is Australia, which publishes extensive data on its resources and reserves. Due to the level of data available and published by Australia it is able to include its economically demonstrated resources on its country balance sheet.
The data and reports that CAR Geoscience will be compiling and reporting using geological intelligence will make the Central African Republic one of the most advanced countries in Africa with regards to mapping and reporting on its resources and reserves.
The data and reports that CAR Geoscience will be compiling, and reporting would make CAR one of the most advanced countries in Africa with regards to mapping and reporting on its resources and reserves. This would also enable CAR to include its economically demonstrated resources on its country balance sheet.
Top 20 Countries by Annual Mineral Production
Listed below are the top 20 countries by value of mineral production value of mineral reserves (excluding oil and gas)
| Country | Production (US$m) | Reserves (US$m) | Years of Production | Production $ per km² | |
| 1 | China | 899,634.42 | 29,212,617.70 | 32.47 | 96,460.96 |
| 2 | Australia | 317,007.42 | 30,728,548.95 | 96.93 | 41,264.65 |
| 3 | India | 177,213.21 | 18,810,204.98 | 106.14 | 59,603.67 |
| 4 | Republic of South Africa | 159,913.90 | 7,530,333.02 | 47.09 | 131,673.82 |
| 5 | Indonesia | 136,756.77 | 6,337,339.34 | 46.34 | 75,490.79 |
| 6 | Russia | 130,507.28 | 25,813,985.15 | 197.80 | 7,968.58 |
| 7 | United States | 121,036.14 | 44,562,417.83 | 368.17 | 13,231.47 |
| 8 | Brazil | 118,075.51 | 9,044,351.42 | 76.60 | 14,127.01 |
| 9 | Chile | 62,114.50 | 2,029,908.55 | 32.68 | 83,508.33 |
| 10 | Kazakhstan | 47,328.64 | 5,184,462.17 | 109.54 | 17,531.08 |
| 11 | Canada | 47,295.13 | 2,557,531.55 | 54.08 | 5,200.98 |
| 12 | Gabon | 34,498.35 | 292,800.00 | 8.49 | 133,887.36 |
| 13 | Ghana | 33,784.11 | 117,943.64 | 3.49 | 148,480.05 |
| 14 | Peru | 30,295.56 | 1,259,080.30 | 41.56 | 23,668.48 |
| 15 | Mexico | 29,053.33 | 922,727.56 | 31.76 | 14,945.55 |
| 16 | Ukraine | 23,910.71 | 7,345,019.44 | 307.19 | 41,273.03 |
| 17 | Mozambique | 23,292.68 | 53,978.00 | 2.32 | 29,620.13 |
| 18 | Poland | 20,534.31 | 4,393,614.17 | 213.96 | 67,490.46 |
| 19 | Iran | 20,464.05 | 527,741.59 | 25.79 | 13,361.27 |
| 20 | Congo (Kinshasha - DRC) | 20,389.76 | 372,314.20 | 18.26 | 8,993.97 |