A new United Nations initiative on critical energy-transition minerals has brought international attention to a question that African governments and investors are increasingly confronting: how can resource-rich countries capture more of the economic value created from minerals needed by the global economy?
The issue took centre stage in New York on September 23 as the UN launched its Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, while African political and economic leaders, investors and capital-markets specialists gathered nearby for the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum.
The coincidence gave the day a strong focus on Africa’s position in the rapidly changing global minerals economy.
The forum, held at The St. Regis on the margins of the 81st UN General Assembly, was organised around the theme “From Mine to Markets: Financing Africa’s Critical Minerals Through U.S. Capital.”
While the UN initiative focused on helping resource-rich developing countries establish sustainable, responsible and resilient mineral value chains, the investor forum examined the financial question behind that ambition: where will the capital come from to build the industries required to capture more value?
The first six countries selected for the UN mechanism are Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The initiative reflects a growing international focus on the distribution of benefits from the energy transition.
Africa is particularly important to that discussion because of its mineral resources.
The continent supplies approximately 75% of global manganese, 70% of cobalt and nearly 20% of copper, according to International Energy Agency figures cited during the investor forum.
At the same time, Africa captures less than 1% of the value generated from manufacturing clean-energy technologies and their components.
The disparity has intensified calls for greater value addition.
The issue is not simply whether Africa should mine more minerals.
The broader question is what happens after the minerals are extracted.
Can they be processed within Africa? Can refining capacity be developed? Can mineral inputs support manufacturing? Can infrastructure built around mining contribute to wider industrialisation? Can African companies own more of the businesses operating across the value chain?
Those questions formed the backdrop to the New York discussions.
The challenge is particularly relevant as demand for minerals used in batteries, electricity networks, renewable-energy systems and advanced technologies continues to grow.
At the same time, global supply chains remain concentrated.
The International Energy Agency figures cited at the forum show that the average share of the top refining country across key energy minerals reached approximately 70% in 2025.
That concentration has made supply security an increasingly important consideration for global economies.
It also creates a strategic opportunity for countries with mineral resources to participate more deeply in global supply chains.
But the transition from mineral producer to industrial participant requires capital.
Muazzam Mairawani, Founder and Group Chairman of MSM Group and Chairman of MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation, said the issue confronting Africa was not a lack of investment opportunities.
“Africa does not suffer from a shortage of opportunity. Africa suffers from a shortage of capital moving at the speed of opportunity,” he said.
His remarks placed finance at the centre of Africa’s critical-minerals strategy.
MSM Frontier Capital is seeking to connect African opportunities with global institutional investors, strategic partners and development-finance institutions.
The aim, as outlined at the forum, is to create financial pathways capable of supporting projects that can contribute to industrial development rather than simply financing mineral extraction.
Mairawani argued that Africa’s economic future cannot be built around a single industry.
“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 to energy, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure and global markets.
Such an approach also changes how the economic potential of individual minerals is viewed.
The value of cobalt, for example, can be considered not only in terms of the quantity extracted but also in relation to the industries that can be developed around it.
Copper can be viewed not simply as an export commodity but as an input into electrical infrastructure and manufacturing.
Natural gas and other energy resources can be considered in relation to their potential role in powering industries.
Ports and logistics systems can serve as gateways for industrial production as well as mineral exports.
The wider argument is that resource wealth can become a foundation for industrial ecosystems.
The forum also examined the conditions required for international capital to participate in such projects.
A session on African country risk and the rule of law focused on political stability, contract enforceability and governance.
Those issues are central to investors assessing long-term projects, particularly where significant capital must be committed before returns can be realised.
The event then turned to the U.S. capital markets.
The session “Financing the Pathway to U.S. Markets” was moderated by Crocker Coulson of AUM Advisors and featured 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 and the potential role of U.S. public markets and SPAC structures in financing and consolidating critical-minerals opportunities.
The discussions highlighted the difference between capital availability and investment readiness.
Africa may have large mineral opportunities, but investors also require projects that can demonstrate credible structures, appropriate governance and the ability to deploy capital effectively.
That means building companies and projects that can connect geological resources with infrastructure and markets.
The political dimension of the issue was reflected in the senior African figures attending the forum.
Participants included Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, IGAD Executive Secretary Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha, Muhammadu Sanusi II, 16th Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry Nigeria Chairman Mansur Muhtar and Islamic Development Bank Director General Issa Faye.
Their participation highlighted the extent to which critical minerals have moved beyond a narrow mining-sector discussion.
The subject now touches economic policy, finance, infrastructure, energy security, industrialisation and international development.
The UN’s new mechanism also demonstrates the growing international attention to the issue.
Its stated purpose is to help resource-rich developing countries establish mineral value chains that are sustainable, responsible and resilient while ensuring that more benefits reach the countries and communities where the resources originate.
The investor forum approached the same objective from the financial side.
The challenge is to finance the processing plants, refineries, manufacturing facilities, energy systems and transport infrastructure that would allow African countries to retain a greater share of the value generated by their resources.
Mairawani described that transition as a matter of converting confidence into actual economic capacity.
“Now we must convert confidence into capital. And capital into industries,” he said.
That statement captures the central issue facing Africa’s critical-minerals economy.
The continent already has significant resources. Global demand is growing. Investors are looking for scalable opportunities.
But resources and demand alone do not create industrialisation.
Capital must be structured. Projects must become investment-ready. Infrastructure must be developed. Governance must support long-term investment. Companies must be capable of scaling.
The wider conversation at UNGA 81 adds another dimension.
Africa is seeking greater participation in global economic decision-making, reform of the international financial architecture and greater value from its natural resources.
Critical minerals sit at the intersection of those priorities.
The opportunity extends beyond becoming a larger supplier of raw materials.
It involves becoming a processor, manufacturer, investor, owner and exporter of higher-value products.
That is why the discussion in New York was ultimately about more than minerals.
It was about the economic structures that will emerge around them.
The global energy transition is increasing demand for Africa’s resources. The question now is how African countries, businesses and investors respond.
The UN has placed value capture on the global agenda.
The investor community is examining how to finance the infrastructure and companies required to achieve it.
For Africa, the next stage will depend on whether those conversations can be translated into investable projects and functioning industrial value chains.
As Mairawani said in closing, “The greatest investment story of the twenty-first century will not simply happen in Africa. It will be led by Africa.”
