Bonface Orucho: Across Africa, mining companies and governmental agencies regulating the sector are increasingly turning to each other for technical expertise, market coordination and investment opportunities long assumed to come mainly from outside the continent.
According to sector analysts, intra-African collaboration in mining is becoming a strategic pathway for African states to move beyond raw extraction to building stronger domestic and regional capabilities.
“By building technical competence internally and fostering peer-to-peer partnerships, African countries can strengthen institutions, negotiate better investment deals, and capture greater economic value from their resources,” according to Ishmael Nalule of the Africa Center for Energy and Mineral Policy.
Gabon is the latest to take this approach, signing a geoscience cooperation pact with South Africa’s Council for Geoscience. The agreement will modernize mineral mapping, conduct new surveys, and train a new generation of Gabonese geologists and engineers.
At its core, the collaboration seeks to strengthen Gabon’s economic base beyond oil by unlocking the commercial potential of its largely untapped iron ore, manganese, gold, and other strategic mineral deposits.
“This is a timely initiative in line with the directives of our Head of State, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema,” said Minister Nguema Nguema. “Ultimately, we will have to work in collaboration with advanced mining economies like South Africa to achieve this.”
The partnership will conduct comprehensive geological assessments across Gabon. South Africa’s Council for Geoscience will work alongside Gabonese experts to review existing datasets, carry out new surveys, and produce updated resource maps.
These maps will give Gabon a clearer picture of its mineral endowment and allow policymakers to design more precise commercialization strategies. By increasing geological transparency, the government expects to attract further foreign investment.
Beyond mapping, capacity building is central to the agreement. Workshops, internships, and joint research initiatives will expose Gabonese geologists and engineers to advanced exploration techniques and international best practices.
Technical exchanges are structured to build a pipeline of skilled professionals capable of managing mineral resources efficiently, thereby reducing reliance on external expertise for operational and strategic decision-making.
Gabon is not alone in turning to intra-African expertise. The Ghana Gold Board has recently partnered with Gold Coast Refinery and South Africa’s Rand Refinery to refine artisanal and small-scale (ASM) gold locally.
Rand Refinery, Africa’s leading LBMA Good Delivery-accredited refiner, will provide technical, operational, and commercial supervision, ensuring that Ghana’s ASM gold meets international standards from the mine to the bar.
LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell called the partnership “an excellent case study to demonstrate… how you can source responsibly from one of the most challenging sectors of the gold market,” noting that it sets a benchmark not just for Africa but for the wider global bullion industry.
The collaboration also strengthens traceability. Rand Refinery has been a leader in adopting the gold bar integrity database, a system that tracks every ounce from extraction to final bar. This ensures transparency, reduces the risk of illicit gold entering the market, and builds confidence with international buyers.
South Africa’s Rand Refinery is Africa’s largest and oldest gold refinery, with over 90 years of continuous operations and full LBMA Good Delivery accreditation.
It has pioneered continent-wide traceability standards, adopting the gold bar integrity database to track every ounce from mine to market, setting it apart as a leader in responsible, transparent refining.
With declared gold production exceeding 125 tonnes in 2023, Ghana remains Africa’s largest gold producer and ranks among the world’s top ten.
But the scale of output also comes with leakage. A 2025 SWISSAID analysis estimates that Ghana lost about 229 tonnes of gold worth US$11.4 billion through smuggling and trade gaps between 2019 and 2023.
That disconnect underscores why local refining and tighter traceability have become central to Ghana’s new gold strategy.
Morocco and Senegal are moving in the same direction on intra-African economic cooperation. In late January 2026, the two governments convened the 15th session of their High Joint Commission in Rabat, chaired by Morocco’s head of government. Aziz Akhannouch and Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko signed 17 cooperation agreements and memorandums covering investment, technical collaboration, and sector-wide partnerships.
Morocco brings one of Africa’s deepest mineral-industrial ecosystems to the table. The country holds an estimated 50 billion tonnes of phosphate reserves, roughly 70% of global deposits, according to the government. The OCP has built a vertically integrated chain that produces around 50 million tonnes of phosphate rock annually and converts much of it into fertilizers for African and global markets.
Senegal, meanwhile, has a growing extractive base, producing roughly 2–2.6 million tonnes of phosphate per year, with mining contributing about 32% of export revenues, but much of its value still leaves the country in raw or minimally processed form.
By combining Senegal’s feedstock potential with Morocco’s processing capacity and investment networks, the cooperation framework signed in January 2026 offers a pathway for deeper value-chain integration through shared expertise, refining, and the downstream industry.
In southern Africa, diamond-producing nations are also coordinating to strengthen market influence through the Luanda Accord, a producer-led initiative launched in June 2025 that brings together Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to align on marketing and supply.
Under the accord, signatories agreed to contribute around 1% of annual rough-diamond sales revenues to a category marketing fund supporting joint campaigns to defend natural diamond demand as lab-grown stones disrupt the market, according to industry reporting.
The initiative has also begun expanding its reach, with Namibia formally joining in February 2026.
According to Modestus Amutse, Namibia’s Minister of Industries, Mines, and Energy, joining the accord is about ensuring the wealth generated from the country’s diamonds continues to benefit Namibians over the long term.
“Natural diamonds have shaped Namibia’s economic story for more than a century, creating jobs, supporting communities, and driving national development,” he said.
“By signing the Luanda Accord, Namibia is affirming that producing countries have both a stake and a responsibility in protecting the true value and story of natural diamonds.”
bird story agency
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