African mineworkers are no longer content to simply dig out the continent’s wealth for others. The umbrella body representing mining unions across Africa has announced a strategy to move unions from labour representation into direct ownership and management of mining assets, marking a fundamental shift in how organised labour engages with the continent’s mineral economy.
Joseph Chewe, President of the African Federation of Miners and Mineral Wealth (AFMMW), outlined the federation’s approach on the sidelines of the organisation’s 3rd Executive Council Meeting, hosted by the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra. The three-day gathering, which ran from March 26 to 28, 2026, brought together union leaders from Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Tanzania, Egypt and several other African nations.
“We have formed a company, as a union, to operate wherever there are minerals in African countries. We leverage our unions and pass the benefits to members, working across Africa like that,” Chewe said, describing a model in which the federation functions simultaneously as a labour body and an active industrial stakeholder.
The federation resolved at its second Executive Board Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, to incorporate an investment company focused on identifying and growing mining assets across the continent for the federation and its members. The Accra meeting this week was convened to advance those plans and translate earlier decisions into concrete action.
Central to the strategy is a push for local value addition. The federation wants manganese, cobalt, lithium, and other critical minerals processed within Africa rather than exported as raw materials, arguing that the continent must capture more of the industrial and economic benefits from resources that are increasingly in demand for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and semiconductor manufacturing.
Chewe told delegates that unity among African mining unions must go beyond statements and translate into coordinated action, with unions speaking as one voice on labour standards, wages, safety, and the protection of collective bargaining agreements.
Ghana’s Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Dr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, who addressed the meeting, warned that Africa’s resource wealth, while a blessing, also leaves the continent exposed to external control and exploitation, and called for stronger regional solidarity and deeper intra-African trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to reduce dependency on external markets.
The AFMMW was established on February 27, 2024 in Cairo, Egypt, as the continental umbrella body for African workers in the mining and mineral sector, with its central objective being to unite mineworkers and ensure that natural resources serve the benefit of the African people.
