"African Nations Dig Deep For Mining Investors To Diversify Economies"

" African Nations Dig Deep For Mining Investors To Diversify Economies \r\n\r\nFrom Cote d\u2019Ivoire to Nigeria, African countries are in a hot pursuit of global mining investors in a bid to tap the growing opportunities in the sector as well as diversify their economies.\r\n\r\nCote d\u2019Ivoire is hosting its first international mining and energy conference, SIREXE, with the aim of attracting global capital into its mining and energy sectors.\r\n\r\nThe target is for the mining sector, which attracted 500 billion FCFA ($833 million) in total investments and accounted for 3 percent\r\nof the Ivorian GDP in 2023, to attract even more investments and contribute 6 percent to GDP by 2025.\r\n\r\nThe six-day long SIREXE event in Abidjan, which started on Wednesday, Nov.27, comes less than a month after Nigeria organised a mining roadshow in South Africa to court investors.\r\n\r\nNigeria will have a second mining roadshow in the space of a month in London in early December.\r\n\r\nSouth Africa, which already boasts a vibrant mining sector, is not sitting back.\r\n\r\nAfrica\u2019s largest economy will host its annual mining conference, Mining Indaba, in February 2025 in Capetown that will seek to attract more investors into the sector.\r\n\r\n Why are African countries eyeing mining? \r\n\r\nAfrica is home to about 90 percent of the world\u2019s mineral deposits and with countries seeking to diversify their economies, mining offers a potential way out of an over-reliance on commodity exports.\r\n\r\nFrom Ivory Coast, where authorities are trying to diversify the economy of the world\u2019s largest cocoa producer, to Nigeria where crude oil exports, a mainstay of the economy is floundering, mining is getting attention.\r\n\r\nAfrica\u2019s metals are also essential to the rapid transition of energy systems away from fossil fuels.\r\n\r\nThe continent holds 19 percent of the global reserves of metals required to make a standard battery-powered electric vehicle. The continent has at least a fifth of the world\u2019s reserves in a dozen minerals that are critical for the energy transition.\r\n\r\nOrganised under the patronage of the prime minister of Cote d\u2019Ivoire, Robert Mambe, the SIREXE 2024 aims to promote investments in the\r\nmineral and energy resources sector, particularly foreign direct investments.\r\n\r\nThe Ivorian government has made the mining sector an essential lever for the country\u2019s economic growth. In the National Development Plan 2021-2025, the sector is presented as the second pillar of the Ivorian economy after agriculture.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur ministerial department is committed to making mineral and energy\r\n\r\nresources the lever for a new phase of sustained and sustainable economic growth,\u201d said Coulibaly Sangafowa, minister of mines, oil and energy, during his opening speech Wednesday.\r\n\r\nSangafowa said the ministry is \u201ccommitted to implementing coordinated and proactive actions.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThe development of an integrated national policy on mineral and energy resources is nearing completion. This policy will be based on coherent and substantial strategies and action plans. Legislative and regulatory framework reforms will be necessary to stimulate more national and international private investments in the sector and to ensure a better distribution of the generated wealth,\u201d Sangafowa said.\r\n\r\nWhile gold production still largely dominates the mining sector in Cote d\u2019Ivoire, with 47 tonnes to be exported by 2024, diversification of the Ivorian mining industry is underway.\r\n\r\nIn particular, the country has revised its mining code to meet growing global demand for critical and strategic minerals, according to some investors attending the event.\r\n\r\nC\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s mining potential is immense.\r\n\r\nMore than two-thirds of the Ivorian territory is covered by geological formations reputed to be rich in gold mineralisation.\r\n\r\nThe country has around 35 percent of West Africa\u2019s birimian greenstone belts. This mining potential is extremely diversified. It includes gold, diamonds, manganese, nickel, bauxite, iron, columbite-tantalite, phosphate, lithium, copper-nickel-cobalt, chromium and ilmenite. These resources will be fully exploited in the years to come.\r\n\r\nRecent research and exploration activities have brought promising deposits to light.\r\n\r\nThe Issia columbite-tantalite (coltan) deposit and the \u201cAtex\u201d lithium-tantalite deposit in the Boundali region will be among the largest in West Africa when they come on stream."

"African Nations Dig Deep For Mining Investors To Diversify Economies"

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