During the 39th African Union (AU) Summit earlier this month, Africa’s critical minerals took centre stage. Addressing the summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasised that Africa’s mineral wealth must serve the interests of its people.
Guterres warned against repeating historical patterns of extraction, stating that there should be ‘‘no more exploitation’’ and ‘‘no more plundering’’ of the continent’s mineral wealth.
The summit coincided with the Munich Security meeting, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid bare the future of Trump’s foreign policy in Africa: one geared toward access to and control over Africa’s mineral resources. Rubio left little doubt that the US considers critical minerals as a core element of the strategic supply chain sovereignty of the US and its partners.
The summit came after the controversial US-DRC minerals deal in December last year that granted American companies priority access to the country’s vast mineral wealth. Signed alongside the US-brokered “peace” deal between Rwanda and the DRC, this arrangement guarantees US mining firms the “right of first offer” on major mining projects in the country that holds large reserves of critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, and lithium.
Under the deal, the East African country is required to amend its mining laws, tax policies, fiscal regulations, and, potentially, its Constitution, within 12 months, to provide preferential treatment for US interests.
In January, Congolese lawyers and human rights defenders challenged the deal in court, citing infringement of their country’s sovereignty.
It is not difficult to understand the onslaught on African minerals by the US and other global powers. The Trump administration’s 2025 US National Security Strategy positions critical minerals as a top-tier priority for US national interest in technology, defence, and economic growth, putting emphasis on accelerating domestic production, diversifying sources, and boosting supply chain resilience, especially owing to China’s dominance in the industry.
This singular focus on the extraction of Africa’s mineral wealth is extremely dangerous. It exposes communities on the continent to wide-ranging social, environmental, and human health harms, including poor labour standards, widespread poverty and conflict, child labour, exposure to toxic substances, water and soil pollution, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, and mining waste.
Without proper mining social and environmental safeguards, Africa risks wading into these harms, particularly with the global demand for strategic minerals expected to triple by 2030, driven by the energy transition and digitalisation.
It is now urgent that Africa invests in adding value to its minerals. Failure to do this risks retaining its historical status as an exporter of cheap raw materials and importer of expensive finished products. This ambition requires political commitment, regional coordination, and strategic partnerships.
Africa already has a strong foundation in the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), adopted in 2008 to promote transparent, equitable, and optimal mineral exploitation for sustainable growth through value addition. The Addis Ababa Declaration reinforced this shift toward industrialisation, poverty reduction, stronger governance, local content, and environmental sustainability.
The establishment of the African Mineral Development Centre in 2013 was meant to coordinate this agenda and promote responsible, rights-based, and environmentally sound mining.
When it was adopted in 2015, Agenda 2063 once again underscored minerals as central to Africa’s transformation and called for full implementation of the AMV. More recently, the African Green Minerals Strategy aligned minerals with green industrialisation and Sustainable Development Goal.
Yet tangible progress has been limited. Enforcement of fair tax regimes, beneficiation, and local value addition in mining contracts remains weak, and efforts to integrate mining into industrial and trade policy have stalled.
Africa does not lack ambition. It lacks political will. A reset to anchor mineral governance in Agenda 2063, the AMV, and green industrialisation goals is overdue.
To steer the continent toward shared socioeconomic prosperity, African leaders must present a unified continental position, hold States accountable, build local and regional value chains, and protect vulnerable countries like the DRC from external opportunism.
The appetite for critical minerals will continue to grow, and with it, detrimental unilateral mineral deals. Rejecting externally imposed ‘‘solutions’’ that entrench extractive dependency has never been more urgent for Africa. Africa will strengthen its bargaining power by speaking in one voice and resisting extractive race-to-the-bottom dynamics.
This unity is important for Africa to set clear expectations for all future mineral deals and partnerships, protect its mineral sovereignty and promote value addition, create decent jobs, spur technology transfer, protect people and the environment, and ensure community benefits and intergenerational equity.
African countries must, therefore, go beyond declarations and signal a collective shift toward strategic, people-centred, and climate-aligned mineral development on the continent, backed by robust political commitments, clear implementation timelines, and accountability mechanisms.
Africa successfully fought colonialism. It must now wage and win the new war on its mineral resources.
The writer is a Legal & Advocacy Fellow at Power Shift Africa.
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