A Ghanaian economist has told African governments they are sitting on the strongest negotiating position the continent has held in decades and must stop squandering it on symbolic agreements that deliver nothing for ordinary citizens.
Theophilus Acheampong, technical adviser to Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, delivered the message at the 32nd Investing in African Mining Indaba held in Cape Town, South Africa, from February 9 to 12, 2026, an event that drew record attendance including 58 government ministers and two heads of state against the backdrop of an intensifying global scramble for Africa’s lithium, cobalt, manganese, copper, and rare earth minerals.
A flagship study by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), released at the conference, valued Africa’s total mineral wealth at 29.5 trillion United States dollars, roughly 20 percent of the world’s mineral endowment, with an estimated 8.6 trillion dollars of that wealth remaining unmobilised largely due to investor uncertainty about policy stability and data gaps.
Acheampong argued that the European Union (EU), the United States (US), Gulf countries, and China are all actively competing for access to African mineral resources, and that this rivalry represents a rare window of leverage that African governments must convert into tangible economic gains rather than photo opportunities.
His prescription was direct: use mineral access as bargaining power to extract infrastructure co-financing, technology transfer agreements, and phased localisation targets from competing suitors. “Africa must use competing courtships from the EU, US, Gulf countries, China and others to secure capital for infrastructure co-financing and technology and skills transfer. This moves beyond just signing memoranda of understanding,” he said.
He cautioned, however, that external partners cannot be relied upon to deliver development outcomes that African governments have not clearly defined for themselves. “If history has taught us anything, it is the fact that often you cannot rely on other external partners to deliver your country for yourselves. You have to build the institutions at home, and you have to be clear about what you want to achieve,” he said.
Acheampong also highlighted a growing momentum toward regional collaboration, noting that some African countries and blocs are already exploring joint ventures, shared infrastructure corridors, and integrated value chains to industrialise resources collectively rather than individually, a model he described as more strategically resilient than bilateral country-by-country negotiations that weaken Africa’s collective leverage.
The broader conference reflected this shift in mood. Leaders including Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema argued that if Africa processes its own minerals on-site, converting lithium into batteries or iron into steel, the value of its endowment multiplies by eight to ten times, with beneficiation increasingly becoming the price that global powers must pay to access African soil.
Analysts at the conference expressed cautious optimism that African governments are finally beginning to align their mineral strategies with broader industrial policy, though they stressed that the gap between ambitious pledges at annual conferences and concrete outcomes on the ground remains the continent’s most persistent challenge.
