African Nations Urged to Enhance Mineral Value Addition

At the Ministerial Forum on Critical Minerals, Value Chain and Beneficiation held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and the African Development Bank (AfDB) called for African countries to strengthen local value addition in mineral resources. Dr. Dele Alake, Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals Development and chair of the Africa Mineral Strategy Group (AMSG), stated that Africa must cease reliance on raw mineral exports and focus on processing to unlock economic benefits.

He advocated for regional cooperation over individual national strategies and proposed the adoption of the Pan African Resource Reporting Code (PARC) to replace the outdated Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) reporting code. This new framework aims to enhance transparency and investor confidence.

Alake also suggested creating a regional mineral processing corridor from Lagos to Dakar to facilitate infrastructure pooling and cross-border trade. Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, President of AfDB, noted that Africa's mineral wealth has not led to economic prosperity due to inadequate financing and weak value addition.

The forum concluded with the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration, committing to coordinated policies on critical minerals.