Regional maritime bank chief urges domestic financing to unlock Africa’s mineral wealth

With the world racing toward clean energy, Africa’s vast mineral reserves offer a profitable opportunity to the continent, but unless the continent builds its own financial muscle, the opportunity could slip away.

That was the message from Adeniran Aderogba, president and CEO of the Regional Maritime Development Bank, who has called for bold domestic financing reforms to unlock the full value of Africa’s mining sector.

Aderogba, speaking at the African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings recently concluded in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, outlined a suite of financial innovations to bridge the financing gap that includes the introduction of mining bonds, mineral royalty securitisation, and blended finance models that combine public and private funds to de-risk investments.

“Africa must not rely solely on foreign capital. We need to build a resilient domestic financial architecture that supports the full mining value chain, from exploration to beneficiation and beyond,” Aderogba said during a session on “Mobilising Domestic Capital for Africa’s Mining Sector.”

His remarks are timely amid a rising demand for minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements, fuelled by a global energy transition, which Africa is central to. The continent is home to two-thirds of global cobalt reserves, 30 percent of lithium, 20 percent of graphite, and over 30 percent of manganese.

Aderogba said global market projections expect value for these minerals to more than double from $325 billion in 2023 to $770 billion by 2040, with copper leading the surge as the new strategic raw material in clean energy and digital technologies.

“This places Africa not at the periphery, but at the heart of the global energy transition,” Aderogba stated, citing Guinea’s vast bauxite reserves, Gabon’s manganese production, and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 70 percent share of global cobalt supply as key pillars of this opportunity.

However, he warned that unless Africa shifts from being a raw material exporter to a hub of industrial transformation, it risks repeating the historical pattern of resource dependency.

“Extracting minerals is not enough. The real value lies in processing them locally, creating industries, jobs, and self-sustaining economies,” he said.

This initiative could also facilitate intra-African trade. “The goods produced through that industrialisation, vehicles, batteries, components, machinery, can then be traded across African borders and efficiently moved through our major maritime channels,” Aderogba added.

But a crippling shortage of early-stage capital, the absence of quality geological data, weak development activity, and a chronic lack of integrated infrastructure diminish competitiveness and stall long-term investment in the sector.

“We are facing a systemic shortage of early-stage capital that discourages exploration, limits geological mapping, and stalls project preparation. Without addressing these constraints, the full value of our resources will remain trapped underground,” Aderogba said.

He proposed that African governments and central banks adopt a more assertive role in shaping a viable investment environment, including deploying credit enhancement tools and fiscal incentives towards the upstream segment, where mining projects are initiated and developed, which has largely remained underfunded due to its perceived risk.

This integrated vision, he explained, would not only strengthen Africa’s internal markets but also reduce its dependence on external trade corridors and pricing systems.

Part of the RMDB’s mission is to enhance the maritime and logistical connectivity of Africa’s coastal and landlocked countries, turning mineral wealth into tangible, tradable value across the continent.

Aderogba also welcomed growing international interest in Africa’s mining sector but cautioned that global partnerships must contribute to local capacity building and value chain development.

He added that in a century defined by climate action and technological upheaval, Africa’s minerals may very well be its passport to prosperity — “if the continent can summon the collective will to finance its own future.