Africa: Mining sector; a bright future!

The African continent is richly endowed with mineral resources. The US Geological society ranks Africa as the largest or second-largest reserve of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamonds, manganese, phosphate rock, platinum group metals and zirconium. The products produced from these minerals are found in everyday life. Africa has a history of acting as a feedstock for the world’s mineral hunger. British, Belgian and Portuguese colonies produced precious metals and gems since the early 1800s while the majority of private foreign capital invested on the continent between 1870 and the Second World War was channelled into mining. By the early 1990’s, however, the continent was still only receiving some 5% of global exploration and mining development expenditure. A study by the Word Bank on the shortcomings of African territories in the eyes of miners revealed a need for infrastructure, stable legal systems, a predictable fiscal regime, profit repatriation guarantees, and access to foreign exchange. The remarkable changes that took place in Africa from 2000 to 2011 resulted in the continent receiving 15% of global exploration expenditure and mining investment during 2012. The outlook for Africa’s mining sector remains bright. Huge tracts of Africa remain largely unprobed.... Read more...