Africa Finance Corporation Targets Iron Ore and Uranium Investments
AFRICA
Photo: miningweekly.com
The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is seeking to expand its investments in iron ore and uranium as competition for strategic minerals intensifies. Speaking at a mining conference in Cape Town, the corporation’s mining chief, Franklin Edochie, said the combined iron ore output potential of Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Sierra Leone could place the region among the world’s three largest producers within a decade.
The AFC is working to finance projects in these sectors, with investment announcements expected over the next six to twelve months. The broader contest for critical minerals reflects international efforts to secure supplies for electric vehicles, renewable energy and other technologies. The AFC is also involved in developing the Lobito Corridor, linking mining regions in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic port.
Pan-African significance: African ownership of mineral deposits does not automatically translate into economic sovereignty. The decisive questions are who finances extraction, controls transport, processes the materials, owns the resulting industries and captures the revenue. Regional infrastructure and African-led financing could strengthen bargaining power, provided mineral development produces lasting local capacity rather than merely accelerating exports.