Dangote Expands Africa's Largest Refinery Amid Mineral Bans

Several African countries are implementing bans on the export of unprocessed minerals to foster industrial development and value addition. Kenya has prohibited all unprocessed minerals since September 2026 and is constructing three local gold refineries.

Zimbabwe has tightened restrictions on raw lithium concentrate and the extraction of antimony and tungsten. Guinea and Ghana have also banned the export of unrefined gold, while Malawi and Botswana have imposed bans on critical transition minerals such as cobalt and lithium.

In this context, Dangote's efforts are noteworthy; he has built the largest refinery in Africa and is expanding it to become the largest in the world. This transformation follows a controversial proposal in 2003 to sell Nigeria's refineries to a consortium that included Dangote, which faced significant public backlash.

Today, Dangote's ventures reflect a strong commitment to enhancing Africa's industrial capacity and reducing reliance on raw commodity exports.