Ghana and Egypt to Champion Smart Mining in Africa
During the Africa Downunder (#ADU) Conference 2025 held in Perth from 3 to 5 September 2025, Ghana and Egypt decided to join hands to promote sustainable and inclusive mining in Africa. Ghanaian Minister of Natural Resources, Emmanuel Buah, and Egyptian Minister of Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, reached an understanding on the concept of ‘Smart Mining’ at #ADU2025.
The two mining giants agreed to share knowledge and propagate best practices in mineral management and petroleum governance, with the intention to expand the ‘Smart Mining’ initiative at the Pan-African level.
“We are here [at #ADU2025] not merely to discuss rocks and minerals, but to build the future; a future of shared prosperity, sustainable development, and mutual growth. This is a reunion of brothers and a reaffirmation of the Pan-African spirit. Our goal is to drive a unified African voice and position in the global mining industry, ensuring our resources benefit our people first.”
Ghana Minister of Natural Resources Emmanuel Buah
Minister Buah extended a formal invitation to his Egyptian counterpart to visit Ghana to further discussions and to drive the dynamic forward. The Ghana-Egypt Alliance is expected to give birth to a solid North-West Corridor which will link up regions in the northern half of Africa with a string of countries rich in natural resources.
Currently, Ghana faces challenges to put in order its mining ecosystem which — not unlike some other African mining states — is characterized by a significant number of artisanal miners, locally referred as #Galamsey. Minister Buah underscored the Government’s commitment to reform and regulate the sector and highlighted Ghana’s efforts in that direction with its steering role in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (#EITI), the #KimberleyProcess, and the African Mining Vision (#AMV) in order to bring about positive change.
Both parties agree that the fight against #ClimateChange presents Africa with tremendous opportunities for wealth creation. Indeed, many of the #CriticalMinerals, including Rare Earth Elements (#REE), needed for the #EnergyTransition and future industries can be found in abundance on the continent
Through collaboration and coordination, Africa has the potential to extract greater benefits through the harmonized promotion of local content and local value addition (#LVA). The mining sector is a key sector in several Africa economies, and one must strike the right balance between profitability and responsibility. It is becoming the trend of the times for the African mining industry to upgrade from extraction to transformation.