Women in Mining Africa Advocates for Mineral Processing in 2026

Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa) has called on African countries to advance beyond merely extracting and exporting raw minerals. The organization emphasizes the need for developing processing, market intelligence, and financial infrastructure to influence the value and pricing of mineral resources.

Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, the executive director of WiM-Africa, will present this position at the Shanghai Metals Expo 2026 in China, where she is scheduled to be a roundtable speaker in November. The roundtable, titled “Eastern Pricing 2.0: Integrating Futures, Physical Markets, Industry and Finance for the Next Stage of Global Metals Pricing,” is convened by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM).

Asokoro-Ogaji stated that Africa must strengthen its capacity to participate in the global mineral economy, particularly in light of the changing structure of the global metals market. WiM-Africa argues that Africa's response should extend beyond negotiating better export terms for raw materials, as the continent has a competitive edge in the global market.