Africa's New Approach to Critical Minerals: Implications for China and the West

 Skillings Mining Review published on 3 March 2026 an article titled "The Indaba 2026 Legacy: Inside the New African Critical Minerals Framework" by Charles Pitts.

The most recent Cape Town conference on mining (Indaba 2026) demonstrated that three major African sources of critical minerals (DRC, Zambia, and South Africa) acted in a coordinated way to ensure that its raw mineral wealth is not just exported but more of it is refined in Africa for value added benefits.  For example, the DRC produces about 70 percent of the world's cobalt but now refines less than 10 percent of it.  The DRC intends to change that ratio.

The West's Lobito Corridor project for Angola, Zambia, and the DRC fits this new African narrative reasonably well, China's focus on importing raw material not so much.  

Chinese Mining in West Africa

 The Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame published in October 2025 a paper titled "Chinese Mining in West Africa: Responding to the Environmental and Social Impacts" by various authors.

The paper proposes national and regional policy recommendations for addressing the detrimental social and environmental impacts of Chinese mining in West Africa.

China, the DRC, and Artisanal Cobalt Mining

 The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published on 20 June 2023 a study titled "China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Artisanal Cobalt Mining from 2000 through 2020" by Andrew L. Gulley, U.S. Geological Survey.  

The study systematically evaluates the role of artisanal mining in world cobalt mine production.  It finds that artisanal cobalt mining's share of world cobalt mining has generally decreased since 2008 and that most artisanal production was either processed in the DRC by Chinese firms or exported to China.  

Sudan's Conflict Gold Trade

Enough published in March 2015 a commentary titled "Fool's Gold: The Case for Scrutinizing Sudan's Conflict Gold Trade" by Akshaya Kumar. 

Gold from Sudan originates in conflict-affected Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.  In North Darfur and Blue Nile, the mining areas have been both the sites and the objects of conflict.  In South Kordofan, the mining benefits the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.  The report argues that unless gold from Sudan can be verifiably traced to a conflict-free mine, it should be flagged as high risk during audits and excluded from responsible buyers' supply chains.