S05 ATR Feb 2021 Profile_ATR - New Master Template 2016 28/01/2021 12:39 Page 16
PROFILE | REPORT Public and private partnerships are key to unlocking capital for successful mining projects.
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How to stimulate post-Covid investment in mining exploration in Africa
“T
he continent’s potential to be a global mining investment haven cannot be disputed, when Africa is home to 90% of the world’s platinum supply, 90% of the world’s cobalt supply, 50% of the world's gold supply, 35% of the world’s uranium, 9.6% of the global oil output, two thirds of the world’s manganese, and 75% of the world’s coltan supply,” said Hubert Danso, CEO of Africa investor (Ai) while addressing delegates at the Africa Mining Forum on 16 November on the topic “The Next Smart Move: Covid-19 Recovery Plan to Stimulate Investment into Mining Exploration in Africa”. Despite the continent’s huge resources, Danso stressed less than 50% of the continent has been geologically surveyed, and estimates that at least the same amount of resources have yet to be explored today. But Africa only received less than one third of the US$3bn global exploration investment last year. “We believe Covid-19 offers a unique opportunity to apply different approaches; public and private partnership models
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especially can better attract global and domestic shareholders, as well as innovate and assist the continent’s mining sector, support Africa’s integration and competitiveness in the global Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Danso stated. “First and foremost, we need to appreciate that the cheapest form of stimulus is confidence, and the ability to provide confidence and clear signals to the investment community is paramount and is really very important. We believe that there is a great opportunity to reset the public-private mining leaders relationship through private sector and presidential mining investment partnerships and collaboration, and we have seen it work effectively throughout the African Union
through the Presidential Infrastructure Champions Initiative currently chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa. “We think we can have something like that level of leadership focus on the mining sector. The African Union has a programme with institutional investors called the 5% Agenda, which is a commitment between African heads of state in governments and African pension and sovereign wealth funds to increase their allocations in the region of 5% of all assets under management to infrastructure and long-term assets. We believe the mining sector is ripe for participation in that portfolio opportunity, and we’ve already seen a very good example from
We feel that the continent only needs to cultivate a cluster of real catalytic investors to mount a strong, resilient mining investment Covid-19 response.” HUBERT DANSO, CEO OF AFRICA INVESTOR
AFRICAN REVIEW OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY | FEBRUARY 2021
Image Credit: HUbert Danso
Hubert Danso, CEO of Africa investor (Ai), an institutional investment platform, and chairman of AU’s Continental Business Network, talked to delegates at the Africa Mining Forum on how to attract investment in mining in Africa.
Hubert Danso, CEO of Africa Investor.
Ghana, under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, who is working closely with the Ghananian Infrastructure Investment Fund, which has now started to invest in the gold mining sector in the country. That has really sent a very positive signal to institutional investors. We can already begin to see this model taking form in other countries on the continent. “As a consequence the president has gained a great deal of confidence and support as a champion of the mining sector in Ghana and across the continent. But let’s remember fundamentally capital markets and private equity investments are capital raising venues and instruments whose
www.africanreview.com
