AFC says the new company is designed to expand Africa’s mineral reserves, boost domestic production and secure mineral sovereignty, and that exploration is a primary target because local value-addition strategies depend on discovering and defining new reserves.
CEEC’s Director General says investors can now deal directly with the DRC rather than going through Belgium, and that high-precision geomapping covers 19% of the country’s territory so far. AFC separately says it wants to expand its investments in regional ports and power corridors so that industrial areas such as the Copperbelt are fully powered. An increase in mining activity will push railway development.
- AFC plans to launch a dedicated exploration development investment company within the next 12 months.
- Franklin Edochie, Deputy Director and Head of the Metals and Mining Desk at AFC, set out the plan at African Mining Week in Cape Town.
- AFC says the company is designed to expand Africa’s mineral reserves, boost domestic production and secure mineral sovereignty.
- AFC says it wants to expand its investments in regional ports and power corridors, citing the Copperbelt as an industrial area to be fully powered.
- Freddy Mwamba Kanyinku, Director General of the DRC’s Centre d’Expertise, d’Evaluation et de Certification (CEEC), says high-precision geomapping has been completed for 19% of the country’s territory.
- Kanyinku says CEEC is procuring advanced survey equipment that is giving stakeholders a clearer view of the DRC’s resource value.
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the multilateral pan-African financial institution, plans to launch a dedicated exploration development investment company within the next 12 months, with the aim of closing the widening mineral exploration funding gap on the continent. Franklin Edochie, Deputy Director and Head of the Metals and Mining Desk at AFC, set out the plan at African Mining Week in Cape Town on Wednesday 14 October.
Edochie said the vehicle is designed to expand Africa’s mineral reserves, boost domestic production and secure mineral sovereignty. “If we don’t invest in African exploration, we risk losing control over where our resources end up,” he said. “Investing in exploration is one of our primary targets because local value-addition strategies depend on discovering and defining new reserves.”
He said continent-led exploration funding is vital to insulating Africa from global geopolitical pressures, which, in his account, often dictate which projects receive capital rather than prioritising the minerals most critical to the region’s long-term economic development.
Edochie added that AFC is scaling its infrastructure commitments across key trade corridors. “We want to expand our investments in regional ports and power corridors to ensure major industrial areas, such as the Copperbelt, are fully powered,” he said.
Freddy Mwamba Kanyinku, Director General of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Centre d’Expertise, d’Evaluation et de Certification (CEEC), also presented at the event, describing the DRC’s ongoing national geological mapping programme as a major entry point for global investors. He said high-precision geomapping has been completed for only 19% of the DRC’s territory so far, and that modernising geological evaluation mechanisms has already changed how foreign investors access the country.
“Previously, to invest in the DRC, you had to go through Belgium first. That is no longer the case - investors can now come directly to us,” Kanyinku said. He said advanced survey equipment being procured by CEEC is giving stakeholders a clearer view of the country’s resource value.
“Eighty percent of our land remains unexplored. While we have secured partnerships with countries like the US, there is still immense opportunity for international investors across these uncharted mineral regions,” he said.
