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India and South Africa can explore joint ventures in minerals and green steel by leveraging the BRICS platform, with scope to jointly cater to demand from countries that lack such mineral resources, a South African industry expert said.
Speaking with ANI on the sidelines of the 5th edition of the CII Green Steel & Mining Summit 2026 in Raipur, Lerato Mokoena, Managing Director of Jolemo Holdings, South Africa, said there are opportunities for collaboration between the two countries, including sharing expertise and best practices in green steel. "I think the one thing that we should take opportunity on is that we are part of BRICS and we can actually be a joint venture in what we have as BRICS into supplying other countries that don't have the minerals that we have," Mokoena said. She said the two countries would need to work together on policies and agreements to tap such opportunities. "It's a matter of both countries sitting down and ensuring that the demand that is required outside can be supplied on a joint venture," she said, adding that existing policies would need to be aligned to facilitate cooperation. Mokoena also highlighted opportunities for South Africa to learn from India's progress in green steel and exchange best practices. "I see a lot of opportunities, a lot of collaboration with the South African steel sector and we're looking forward to making joint ventures and learning," she said. Brazilian energy transition specialist Hugo M Bolognesi, who also participated in the summit, said the transition towards green steel would require a mix of technologies and solutions rather than relying on a single option such as green hydrogen. "We are always looking for energy efficiency, other fuels, and looking towards the green hydrogen," Bolognesi said. "It's not looking for a silver bullet to solve the green steel situation. We have to diversify and regionalize the solutions." He said countries also need to look at energy transition as a broader industrial policy rather than merely switching from one fuel to another. "We have to stop looking at the energy transition only as changing the fuel. We have to look at the energy transition as an industry policy," he said. Bolognesi said this would require the development of new technologies, skills and alternative inputs suited to individual countries. He added that decarbonising steel could also help reduce emissions further down the manufacturing value chain by enabling the production of greener products. (ANI)
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