Mineral Beneficiation: A Pipedream of Prosperity in an Unequal Financial Architecture

Since 2023, 14 African countries have introduced export restrictions on unprocessed critical minerals, requiring “local beneficiation” – or in-country processing and manufacturing – prior to export, and demanding technology and financing. Wealthier countries are also supporting the idea of local beneficiation and stepping up investments in resource-rich countries, promising this will help to lift them out of poverty. Behind these promises, however, they are perpetuating a top-down, economic model that only serves their own interests, and are reducing long-standing equity-based claims for climate justice and reparations from the Global South to a business opportunity. Promoted by Western governments and executed […] The post Mineral Beneficiation: A Pipedream of Prosperity in an Unequal Financial Architecture appeared first on African Arguments.