Europe’s Africa minerals strategy: Building roads, but leaving the refineries behind

From the report

Europe’s critical minerals strategy in Africa is gaining political momentum, institutional support and financial backing. Yet, beneath the diplomatic announcements and infrastructure commitments lies a fundamental weakness: Europe is helping Africa extract and transport minerals without doing enough to ensure that they are processed locally. In a global economy where control over refining is increasingly synonymous with industrial power, this is a strategic failure Europe can no longer afford.

The European Union has established 15 minerals partnerships, designated 60 strategic projects worldwide and mobilised financial institutions through the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and its Global Gateway initiative. Its flagship infrastructure ambition, the Lobito Corridor, is intended to connect mineral-rich areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia with Angola’s Atlantic coast.

These initiatives demonstrate genuine commitment. But the central question is not how many agreements Europe signs or how many kilometres of railway it builds. It is how much mineral processing capacity actually emerges in Africa.