On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in South Africa, a dialogue dubbed “Turning Mineral Wealth into Negotiating Power,” brought together African ministers, policymakers and civil society representatives.
The aim was to address a looming crisis: the continent’s vast reserves of critical minerals — such as lithium, cobalt, and graphite, which are essential for electric vehicles and modern defence — becoming the new fault line in global geopolitical and economic rivalry.
The consensus was clear: Africa has the minerals, the strategic vision (such as the Africa Mining Vision), and the future workforce.
However, what it fundamentally lacks is the political leadership willing to pool collective power, treat these resources as leverage, and enforce continental rules for African benefit.
These deals, often hastened by Western industrial policies like the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s strict traceability requirements, are designed to secure supply chains for the Global North.
African delegates warned that these one-on-one arrangements dilute the continent’s collective bargaining strength, undermine long-term sovereignty, and risk perpetuating the cycle of resource extractivism over structural transformation.
The core message from the gathering was simple: No single African economy is large enough to add value to its minerals at scale. Strategic alignment is, therefore, not an option — it is an economic and political imperative.
The Open Society Foundations (OSF), UNDP and key continental bodies issued a definitive challenge to the global powers: Africa will no longer be the fractured, passive supplier of raw ore for the world’s green energy transition.
”To shift its position from a raw material supplier to a global industrial power, participants outlined a comprehensive strategy anchored in Pan-Africanism and good governance.
Unified Bargaining Front: The priority is establishing a common vision for minerals governance and development through AU-led frameworks before engaging with external partners like China, the US, or the EU. The stability of mineral cornerstones, such as the DRC, must be safeguarded as a collective continental interest.
The Green Minerals Fund: Delegates proposed creating a dedicated Green Minerals Fund to finance crucial domestic activities, including geological sea mapping, innovation, and skills development in STEM and applied sciences. This move is essential for moving beyond donor-led models towards locally driven productivity.
Industrial Policy and Beneficiation: The key to true transformation is a joint industrial policy anchored on technology. This means mandating local beneficiation —transforming the raw ore into battery components or finished products on African soil — and developing the backward, forward, and lateral linkages that ensure mining revenues drive manufacturing and community development, not just elite consumption.
Global South Solidarity: Leveraging successive G20 leadership from India, Brazil and Indonesia, coupled with the AU’s new permanent seat, Africa must champion social and economic justice. Collective bargaining with the Global South is crucial to countering finance, trade, and investment structures designed for extraction.
Dignity is fought for the dialogue repeatedly stressed that Africa’s transformation must be founded on governance, transparency, and accountability. Key governance priorities include: combating corruption and illicit financial flows, building state capacity for contract negotiation and monitoring, and urgently addressing persistent gender and youth disparities in the value chain.
He urged African leaders to move beyond “outrage and theory” to practical, production-driven implementation, building industries and value chains grounded in African realities.“Dignity is never given—it is fought for,” Kagoro affirmed. “Africa’s success in this critical mineral race requires courage, unity, and a decisive commitment to building industries that primarily serve its own people and finally turn resource wealth into genuine, long-lasting negotiating power.”
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