The Executive Director of Women in Mining Africa, Dr. Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, has called for Africa to strengthen its influence over the global pricing and value determination of its mineral resources. She emphasized the need for the continent to develop stronger market intelligence, processing capacity, mineral data, and commercial systems. This call will be advanced at the Shanghai Metals Expo 2026 in China, where she will participate as a roundtable speaker.
The roundtable discussion, convened by Shanghai Metals Market, will focus on integrating futures, physical markets, industry, and finance for the next stage of global metals pricing. According to Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji, the changing global metals market presents Africa with an opportunity to reconsider its position in mineral trading, pricing, and value conversion systems. She stressed that having minerals is not enough; Africa must develop its mineral ecosystem.
Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji highlighted that Africa's mineral strategy should move beyond negotiating better terms for raw material exports to developing the capacity to process, aggregate, certify, finance, and trade minerals within stronger African value chains. This is crucial as global competition intensifies for critical minerals like copper, lithium, and cobalt, essential for industrialization and the energy transition.
The challenge for Africa is not only to determine the shift in pricing influence from Western to Eastern markets but to ensure the continent becomes a meaningful participant in the evolving global pricing architecture. Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji emphasized that stronger African participation requires reliable geological and market data, mineral testing and certification systems, and access to finance and regional trading platforms.
The issue is particularly important for women-led and smaller mining enterprises, which often face barriers to credible market information, mineral testing, and finance. Without these systems, many African producers will remain confined to the mine-gate level of the value chain, while a larger share of the value generated from their minerals is captured elsewhere.
Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji called for deeper cooperation among African governments, mining companies, commodity exchanges, financial institutions, and regional bodies to strengthen the continent's mineral market infrastructure. This cooperation is necessary to ensure that Africa becomes a relevant player in determining the value of its minerals.
Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji's participation in the Shanghai roundtable discussion underscores the importance of African voices in shaping the future of global mineral pricing. Her advocacy for a stronger African presence in the global mineral market is a call to action for stakeholders to work together to build a more equitable and sustainable mineral ecosystem for the continent.
Key points
- Africa must develop stronger market intelligence and processing capacity to influence global mineral pricing.
- The continent's mineral strategy should focus on developing the capacity to process, aggregate, certify, finance, and trade minerals within stronger African value chains.
- Deeper cooperation among African governments, mining companies, and regional bodies is necessary to strengthen the continent's mineral market infrastructure.
