Africa holds some of the world’s richest mineral reserves:

* ~70% of global cobalt (mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
* Major gold producers like Ghana and South Africa
* Diamonds in Botswana and Namibia
* Platinum and rare earths in southern regions

What’s different: In many places, deposits are high-grade and relatively underexplored, meaning huge untapped potential compared to older mining regions like Europe.

Colonial Legacy Still Shapes Mining

* Many mines were originally developed during colonial rule to extract resources for foreign powers.
* Infrastructure (railways, ports) was built mainly to export raw minerals, not develop local industry.

Result: Even today, many countries export unprocessed raw materials, missing out on higher-value manufacturing.