Alake urges African leaders to end raw mineral exports, reclaim resource valuation

African nations must end the longstanding cycle of exporting raw mineral resources only to buy back finished products at premium prices, the Chair of the Africa Mineral Strategy Group and Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Dele Alake has urged during the African Development Bank Ministerial Forum in Abidjan.

Addressing fellow ministers and key industry leaders, Alake called for a decisive shift toward in-continent mineral processing to create local jobs, strengthen domestic industries, and retain greater economic value within the continent.

Central to this strategy is a push for Africa to take full ownership of the data and reporting standards used to evaluate its natural wealth. By adopting the Pan African Resource Reporting Code (PARC), African nations aim to establish independent frameworks to determine the true value of their mineral reserves on their own terms, moving away from an over-reliance on foreign valuation systems.

The forum culminated in the official adoption of the Abidjan Declaration, a milestone agreement that signals a unified commitment to stronger regional cooperation, enhanced financing, and targeted infrastructure investments.

Under the new declaration, participating nations will focus on creating cross-border processing hubs designed to process critical minerals locally, expand intra-African trade, and accelerate industrial growth to deliver lasting economic prosperity across the continent.