Africa Turns to US Capital to Unlock Billions in Critical Minerals

Africa’s growing importance to the global critical-minerals economy is creating a major opportunity for the continent to move beyond the export of raw materials and build industries around the resources the world increasingly needs.

That was the central message from African political leaders, investors, mining specialists and development-finance representatives who gathered in New York for the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum on September 23, on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Held at The St. Regis under the theme “From Mine to Markets: Financing Africa’s Critical Minerals Through U.S. Capital,” the forum focused on a challenge that is becoming increasingly important to African economies: how to attract enough long-term capital to develop processing, manufacturing, infrastructure and other industries around the continent’s mineral resources.

Africa already occupies a significant position in global supplies of several minerals considered important to the energy transition. According to figures cited at the forum from the International Energy Agency, the continent supplies approximately 75% of global manganese, 70% of cobalt and nearly 20% of copper.

Yet the continent captures less than 1% of the value generated from manufacturing clean-energy technologies and their components.

That contrast was at the heart of the discussion.

Africa has many of the resources required for batteries, electricity networks, renewable-energy systems and advanced technologies. The question increasingly is whether African countries can build the industrial capacity needed to capture more of the economic value created by those resources.

The issue gained additional international significance during the same day when United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

The mechanism is intended to help resource-rich developing countries develop sustainable, responsible and resilient mineral value chains, with greater benefits reaching the countries and communities where the resources originate. Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe were identified as the first six partner countries.

The UN initiative and the New York investor forum approached the same challenge from different directions.

While the United Nations is focusing on how resource-rich countries can capture greater value from critical minerals, the investor forum concentrated on how capital can finance the infrastructure and businesses required to make that possible.

For Muazzam Mairawani, Founder and Group Chairman of MSM Group and Chairman of MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation, the obstacle is not a lack of opportunity.

“Africa does not suffer from a shortage of opportunity. Africa suffers from a shortage of capital moving at the speed of opportunity,” Mairawani said in his opening address.

His argument reflects one of the central challenges facing African mineral-producing countries. Having mineral deposits is only the starting point. Developing mines, processing facilities, refineries, industrial parks, transport networks, power infrastructure and manufacturing capacity requires substantial amounts of capital, often over long investment horizons.

Mairawani said MSM Frontier Capital aims to connect African opportunities with global institutional capital, strategic partners and development-finance institutions.

But he also cautioned against treating critical minerals as an isolated investment theme.

“Africa’s future will not be built by one sector. It will be built by an industrial ecosystem,” he said.

That ecosystem would connect mining with energy, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and global markets.

Such an approach changes the questions being asked about Africa’s mineral resources. Instead of focusing only on how much cobalt can be extracted, the discussion turns to what can be manufactured because the cobalt is available. Copper becomes not only an export commodity but also a potential input into infrastructure and manufacturing. Foreign capital becomes more than financing for extraction if it helps build ownership, capabilities and productive capacity within Africa.

The forum also highlighted the importance of investor confidence.

A session examining African country risk and the rule of law looked at issues including political stability, contract enforceability and governance — considerations that can influence whether investors commit capital to large, long-term projects.

The discussion then moved into the practical question of how African companies and projects can access U.S. capital markets.

A panel titled “Financing the Pathway to U.S. Markets” was moderated by Crocker Coulson of AUM Advisors and included Joe Riggio, Founding Partner at Jett Capital; Mitch Nussbaum, Co-Chair at Loeb & Loeb LLP; Patrick A. Sturgeon, Managing Partner at Brookline Capital Markets; and Gracelin Baskaran, Director of the Critical Minerals Security Program.

The panel examined transaction structures, due diligence, governance requirements, legal considerations, U.S. public markets and SPAC structures as possible mechanisms for financing and consolidating critical-minerals opportunities.

The message emerging from that discussion was that capital alone will not transform Africa’s mineral economy.

Investment opportunities must be sufficiently structured and investment-ready to absorb capital responsibly and convert it into productive capacity.

The issue is especially important because global demand for minerals associated with the energy transition continues to grow while supply chains remain concentrated.

The International Energy Agency figures cited at the forum indicate that the average share of the top refining country across key energy minerals reached approximately 70% in 2025.

That concentration has increased the strategic importance of countries and regions capable of supplying critical minerals, but it has also sharpened questions about who controls the processing and manufacturing stages of the value chain.

For Africa, the opportunity therefore extends well beyond mining.

Processing, refining, manufacturing, logistics, energy and technology can all become parts of a broader industrial strategy.

The forum brought together senior African political and economic figures, including Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, IGAD Executive Secretary Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha, the 16th Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Muhammadu Sanusi II, Bank of Industry Nigeria Chairman Mansur Muhtar and Islamic Development Bank Director General for Global Practices and Partnerships Issa Faye.

Their participation underscored the political as well as commercial dimensions of the debate.

Critical minerals increasingly sit at the intersection of economic development, energy security, industrial policy and international finance.

For resource-rich African countries, the challenge is to ensure that rising global demand produces more than increased exports.

Questions about ownership and value capture are becoming increasingly important.

Who owns the processing plant? Who develops the refinery? Who supplies the energy? Who controls the logistics infrastructure? Who develops the technology? Who creates the jobs? And who owns the companies that eventually sell higher-value products to global markets?

These questions point to a broader definition of the critical-minerals opportunity.

The goal is not simply to increase the number of tonnes leaving African soil. It is to increase the amount of economic value, industrial capability and productive capacity that remains on the continent.

Mairawani framed that ambition in straightforward terms.

“Now we must convert confidence into capital. And capital into industries,” he said.

That message also mirrors the wider conversation taking place around the 81st UN General Assembly, where African countries are seeking reforms to the global financial architecture, greater value from natural resources and stronger industrial capacity.

The critical-minerals opportunity brings those priorities together.

Africa has the resources. Global markets have the demand. International financial markets have significant pools of capital.

The challenge is creating the structures, companies and infrastructure that connect them.

For the continent, the emerging critical-minerals economy could therefore become a test of whether natural-resource wealth can be translated into broader industrial development.

As Mairawani concluded: “The greatest investment story of the twenty-first century will not simply happen in Africa. It will be led by Africa.”

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