Africa must end raw mineral exports — Alake

Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has called on African countries to end the export of raw minerals and prioritise local processing to drive industrialisation, create jobs and retain more value from the continent’s vast natural resources.

Alake made the call while addressing the African Development Bank (AfDB) Ministerial Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where he spoke in his capacity as Chairman of the Africa Mineral Strategy Group.

He said Africa possesses enormous reserves of critical minerals required for global industries but continues to lose significant economic benefits because most refining, processing and manufacturing take place outside the continent.

According to him, African governments must reverse the long-standing practice of exporting raw minerals only to import finished products at much higher costs.

Alake also urged African countries to take ownership of the standards used to assess their mineral resources through the proposed Pan-African Resource Reporting Code (PARC).

He said adopting an African-led reporting framework would enable countries to accurately determine the value of their mineral assets while improving transparency and investor confidence.

The forum also adopted the Abidjan Declaration, a framework designed to strengthen regional cooperation on mineral development across the continent.

The declaration commits African countries to improving access to financing, promoting investments in mineral processing and establishing cross-border value chains to boost local beneficiation, expand intra-African trade and accelerate industrial growth.

Alake reaffirmed the commitment of the Africa Mineral Strategy Group to working with governments and development partners to ensure the continent’s mineral wealth translates into jobs, stronger economies and sustainable development.

Africa holds some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals, including cobalt, lithium, manganese, bauxite, platinum and rare earth elements, which are essential for renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing.

However, despite its resource endowment, much of the continent still exports minerals in their raw form, allowing most of the value addition to occur overseas before finished products are sold back to African markets.

In recent years, African governments and regional institutions have intensified efforts to promote value addition, industrialisation and regional supply chains under initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The adoption of the Abidjan Declaration is expected to support those efforts by positioning Africa as a major producer of value-added mineral products rather than a supplier of raw materials.