Mohamed Okash is the Founding Director of the Institute of Climate and Environment at SIMAD University in Somalia.

A recent report by the African Finance Corp. suggests that Africa holds an approximate $29.5 trillion in mineral wealth. It is little wonder then that the continent is once again being courted for what lies beneath its soil.

For Africa, this moment feels both familiar — and fraught. Indeed, the stakes are not only about minerals; they are about whether a continent with the world’s youngest population will be shaped by decisions made elsewhere, or finally assert control over how its future is built.

It is time for African policymakers, political leaders, and regional institutions to treat minerals not merely as export commodities, but as strategic bargaining tools.

From cobalt and lithium to the rare earth minerals powering electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and modern defence technologies, global powers are racing to secure the resources they believe will define the next century.

In this context, Africa has a strategic advantage. The continent holds an estimated 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, including over 55% of global cobalt, around 44% of global manganese, significant shares of platinum-group metals, and fast-growing lithium discoveries in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ghana and others. Despite this endowment, Africa only captures less than 1% of global mineral value addition.

A regional approach to value addition

To turn this tide, African policymakers, political leaders, and regional institutions must be intentional about the terms under which these resources leave the continent.

One practical step would be adopting common beneficiation thresholds, requiring that certain minerals not be exported in raw form, but only after reaching a defined level of domestic processing, such as concentration, refining, or precursor production. Instead of shipping unprocessed lithium ore or cobalt concentrate abroad, for example, governments could require some level of upgrading at home.

A handful of African nations have already taken such measures.

In 2023, Namibia banned exports of unprocessed lithium and other critical minerals to encourage local beneficiation. That same year, Ghana announced a lithium agreement that also included provisions for local value addition and state participation, signalling that raw mineral exports will not define its long-term strategy. And just last week, Zimbabwe suspended exports of lithium concentrates and all raw minerals. The government framed the move as a way to compel domestic processing and downstream investment rather than continued raw export dependency.

In addition, the African Union has been pushing toward a more coordinated regional approach to minerals through its African Mining Vision. Fully implementing such an approach would not only strengthen the continent’s bargaining power but prevent companies from simply shifting operations to the country offering the weakest standards.

Mineral revenues can help fund climate plans

Of course, export restrictions alone are not a silver bullet. They work best when backed by clear regulation, reliable energy supply, infrastructure investment, and regional coordination.

Aligning mineral policy with energy, climate, and industrial strategies is equally important. That means linking mining licenses to renewable energy investment consistent with the Paris Agreement, directing mineral revenues into long-term industrial or green transformation funds rather than short-term budget fixes, and using frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to build cross-border value chains. Strong transparency standards under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) can further strengthen public trust and fiscal stability.

Critical minerals give Africa a real chance to move beyond aid-dependent development and invest in growth driven from within. Managed well, they can help finance locally led transformation, creating jobs, building industries, and strengthening economic resilience.

A different model with young people at the table

This debate cannot be confined to boardrooms and foreign capitals, however. Africa has one of the youngest populations on Earth, yet for many young people, the future is not guaranteed, shaped by persistent poverty, inequality, conflict, and accelerating climate shocks that erode livelihoods and public trust.

Young people must have a seat at the table. And they are already making their voices heard; speaking boldly about the future they want, sparking public conversation through entrepreneurship, organising, research, art, and policy advocacy. Indeed, the mineral agreements signed today will determine whether this generation inherits jobs and dignity, or deeper vulnerability and unfinished promises.

Africa’s future should not be secured by the goodwill of external partners, nor by repeating extractive bargains dressed up as development. It should be shaped by African leaders who choose value creation over raw export, and long-term sovereignty over short-term gain.

In a world marked by climate change and growing geopolitical rivalry, Africa has something few others possess: the resources, the market, and the moral claim to insist on a different model.

If that mineral wealth is governed with the right policies, transparency, and foresight, it can anchor green industrialisation, expand opportunity for a rising generation, and reposition Africa not as a prize in a new scramble, but as a decisive architect of a more just and sustainable global order.

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Africa’s mineral wealth can make it an architect of a more just energy transition