Africa sits at the centre of the world’s mineral story. Over the last 50 years, at least 30 African countries have produced – or still produce – at least one of the 31 minerals globally recognised as critical for green industrialisation or the defence industry.

But until now this abundance has not translated into transformational growth. Why?

Right now, almost everyone agrees that a massive issue is a lack of value addition – moving resources “pit to port” rather than pit to product. Country after country on the continent is declaring plans and policies for mineral processing.

But what hasn’t entered the policy conversation yet is the question of ownership. Before a single gram of a mineral is mined on the continent, African governments and the mining companies or investors that partner with them have to agree, on paper, how ownership of that resource will be shared. Yet this critical starting point – who actually owns Africa’s minerals –is fundamental to whether mining truly benefits African economies. Indeed, it can dictate the degree of value-addition – if a foreign investor has a higher share of ownership, they may have no incentive whatsoever to move up the value chain.

Our new infographic aims to shed light on this ownership question, because we believe it needs to be part of the public conversation just as much as the actual value chain is.

The analysis – set out below – suggests three key headlines:

• Ownership models across the continent currently vary widely through a spectrum of arrangements from very low to high local ownership: concessions, private/local ownership, joint ventures, free carried interest (FCI) or equity, production-sharing agreements (PSAs), and majority state-controlled entities. There is no real consensus across the continent for what governments should be aiming for or want. And at least three countries – Nigeria, Cabo Verde, and the Gambia – still allow concessions, despite their massive drawbacks in terms of revenue and decision-making.
• Free carried interest seems to be emerging as a new norm – especially in East Africa – , but most of it is dilutable meaning those stakes can be reduced over time (and intentionally) as companies raise further capital.
• State ownership is highly concentrated in the hydrocarbons sector and in a handful of countries, especially North Africa. Only 12 African countries use production-sharing agreements – concentrated in petroleum, through entities such as Sonatrach (Algeria), NNPC (Nigeria), Sonangol (Angola) and TPDC (Tanzania) – and only nine countries have majority state-controlled national companies, including Sonangol, Sonatrach, Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Ghana’s National Petroleum Corporation.

Taken together, the picture is one of an ownership landscape that is moving beyond concessions and more African-government-involved on paper – than headlines about “foreign-owned” mining might suggest, but still slow and complex. While more African states than might be expected hold stakes, in most cases those  stakes are still not structured in ways that deliver genuine decision-making power, growing revenue, and long-term national benefit.

Our analysis therefore points to two priorities for African governments to work towards:

• Banning concessions outright;
• Building consensus and precedent for strengthened free carried interest and majority equity positions so that state stakes are harder to dilute over time;
• Using joint ventures and production-sharing agreements as tools to build local capacity and technical expertise, as well as collect a share of revenue;
• Being more open to state ownership of certain strategic minerals, especially where collective negotiation across several countries might be useful (e.g. the OPEC model).

Have a look at our analysis here and let us know your feedback:

To find out how Development Reimagined can support your organisation or government to review mineral and mining ownership strategy, critical minerals negotiations, or resource-backed industrialisation policy, please email the team at clients@developmentreimagined.com.

Special thanks go to Rugare Mukanganga, Judith Mwai, Yimei Wei, and Yike Fu for their work on the graphics and for collecting/analysing the underlying data and this accompanying article.

The data used was collated from a range of sources, including African mining legislation, national mining and petroleum authorities, and company disclosures. Our methodology is entirely in-house, based on analysis of ownership structures across the continent’s mining and hydrocarbons sectors.

We welcome you and your media organisation to quote, share, and feature this infographic and its underlying analysis on your own website or social media channels, we simply ask that you provide proper attribution, naming Development Reimagined and linking back to the source on our website, for any text, charts, images, or other content you use.

If you spot any gaps, have any feedback, or would like to follow up on this infographic to request further information or the underlying data, please write to us at media@developmentreimagined.com – we will aim to respond ASAP!

Date published: August 11, 2026