Ghanaian and Liberian leaders call on counterparts to help turn Africa’s vast mineral wealth into lasting prosperity

African leaders need to turn the continent’s vast mineral wealth into industries, jobs, and lasting prosperity for its people, and must rethink how mineral agreements are negotiated and the benefits of extraction shared, said Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama on the opening day of the Mining in Motion Summit 2026. 

Addressing attendees on the Summit’s theme “The Accra Reset and Africa’s Mineral Sovereignty,” the President argued Africa could no longer afford to supply the raw materials powering the world’s industries while importing finished products made from its own resources. He challenged African leaders to turn the continent’s vast mineral wealth into industries, jobs and lasting prosperity for its people.

President Mahama has set an ambitious target for Ghana to end the export of its own unprocessed mineral ores by 2030, but pan-African collaboration was needed to create greater change, he told attendees. Delivering a keynote address, Liberian Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung Sr, also called for a common policy direction across Africa that respected each nation’s sovereignty, while establishing shared principles for fair returns, environmental protection, and competitive industries.

Vice President Koung outlined priorities including reliable energy and transport infrastructure, stronger geological institutions, transparent resource management, meaningful community participation, and support for responsible artisanal and small-scale mining. He also called for closer regional cooperation on technology transfer, local procurement, and mineral processing, stressing that mining communities must continue to benefit long after extraction ends.

The Mining in Motion Summit is a high-level, policy-led platform designed to support the advancement and implementation of the African Mining Vision, adopted by African Heads of State and providing a continental framework to ensure Africa’s mineral resources drive:

• Inclusive economic growth

• Industrialisation and value addition

• Environmental sustainability

• Broad-based socio-economic development

The inaugural summit took place in June 2025 in Accra, hosting more than 600 global stakeholders from more than 3 countries. This year’s second edition sees the African Union take a stronger role as a co-convening partner, and the forum moving from high-level dialogue to active continental policy implementation.

“Will our copper bring electricity to African homes? Will our bauxite power African factories?” asked President Mahama as he challenged delegates to rethink how mineral agreements are negotiated and the benefits of extraction are shared.

The Accra Reset, which delivered its core strategic report, "A Sovereign Future for Health" at last month’s UN General Assembly, was intended to change a long history of raw mineral exports, for example where Ghana had watched its manganese and bauxite leave its ports for decades, only to import finished products manufactured elsewhere.

Strengthening domestic processing and connecting mineral extraction to manufacturing would retain more value locally, and provide opportunities for skilled employment, technological advancement, and industrial growth. 

While opening this week’s Summit yesterday, President Mahaha underlined that Africa’s mineral ambitions would be stronger if countries worked together rather than competed against one another for investment on unfavourable terms. He called for regional value chains that would allow minerals mined in one country to be processed in another and supplied to manufacturers across the continent.

Vice-President Koung likewise urged African countries to turn existing continental frameworks into practical projects with measurable results, supported by investment, financing and regular reviews of progress. His message reinforced the summit’s central challenge: Africa must use the growing global demand for minerals not simply to increase exports, but to build industries, expand opportunities, and secure a greater share of the prosperity generated by its own resources.