Global Enterprise
Discoveries of large untapped mineral deposits in West Africa are behind Beijing’s push to invest heavily in exploration and mining
For decades, China’s influence in Africa has been concentrated in the eastern part of the continent. In recent years, a clear westward expansion has emerged, drawing attention from the United States and several western European nations.
Many analyses have framed this shift as geopolitically driven – a strategic effort by Beijing to erode Western nations’ traditional interests on the continent, with particular attention paid to political and military cooperation between China and West African countries.
Yet a new study suggests there may be deeper, more fundamental forces shaping this transformation. Advances in geological understanding of the African continent are challenging long-held assumptions about its mineral potential – and reshaping investment and exploration strategies, particularly those of Chinese companies.
A research team led by Chen Xifeng, senior engineer with the Development Research Centre of the China Geological Survey and the China-Arab States Geosciences Cooperation Centre, has for the first time systematically compiled the latest scientific understanding of West and Central Africa’s geology, many produced by China-led surveys in recent years.
Their paper, published on October 9 in the peer-reviewed journal China Mining Magazine, identified the mineral types most strategic to China and forecast key future exploration frontiers.
“Since the 21st century, West and Central Africa have continuously seen important exploration progress, and a number of Chinese enterprises have already achieved significant outcomes in exploration and development cooperation in these regions,” Chen and his colleagues wrote.
How China is reshaping its economic ties with Africa
“However, there remains a lack of systematic research on mineral exploration progress across Africa since the new millennium, preventing a comprehensive and continent-scale understanding of the overall trends, distribution of newly discovered major deposits, patterns of resource growth, and the dominant deposit types and metallogenic epochs.”
Scientists’ understanding of Africa’s geological architecture has evolved significantly over the past two decades, according to the study.
Major mineral discoveries have overturned previous misconceptions about the continent’s resource endowment.
For instance, Africa was once widely regarded as iron poor. But in West Africa, an ancient craton – formed long before the Cambrian explosion of life – has been revealed to host what may be the largest high-grade, open-pit iron ore deposits on Earth.
To be continued next week Thursday.
(pls illustrate with photo provided)
