Finding: Value Is Made Where Things Are Processed

Africa is rich in what the modern world runs on. It holds about 30% of the world’s critical minerals: cobalt and copper in the Copperbelt, platinum in South Africa, bauxite in Guinea, gas in Nigeria and Mozambique. Yet 46 of Africa’s 54 countries still earn most of their export income from raw commodities.

What we found

A tonne of raw ore earns a small amount. The same tonne, refined, smelted and turned into products, earns many times more — and creates the skilled jobs, the tax base and the supplier businesses that lift a whole region. Countries that only dig stay exposed to every swing in world prices. Countries that process build an economy that can stand on its own.

Proof from Africa

• Botswana negotiated a 50/50 diamond partnership and brought sorting and cutting home, turning a mine into decades of schools and roads.
• Zimbabwe and Namibia restricted exports of raw lithium ore to push processing inside their own borders.
• Nigeria moved from importing most of its fuel to refining at home: the Dangote refinery in Lagos now has a capacity of 700,000 barrels a day.

What it takes

Processing needs five things together: reliable energy, roads or rail, skilled workers, patient capital and stable rules. That is why this finding connects the Departments of Natural Resources, Energy, Infrastructure, Education and Governance. No single policy is enough; they must move together.

Take this with you

• Africa’s problem is not a lack of resources. It is where the value is added.
• Every product imported that could be made from African raw materials is a lost industry.
• Ask of every resource in your country: who processes it, and where?