United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - African Minerals Development Centre

African Minerals Development Centre moves from ECA to African Union Commission

Minilik.Demissie — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 14:29:35 +0000

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African Minerals Development Centre moves from ECA to African Union Commission

Minilik.Demissie — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 14:25:18 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 15, 2019 (ECA) – The Economic Commission for Africa on Friday officially handed over the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) to the African Union Commission (AUC) following its inception in 2012.

The AMDC was endorsed by the 2^nd conference of African Ministers responsible for Minerals Resource Development in 2011 as an African Union flagship project whose main aim was to coordinate the implementation of the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), which had been adopted in 2009 by Heads of State to ensure minerals contributed to the continent’s economic and structural transformation.

ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, speaking at the handover ceremony, thanked the AUC ‘for trusting and believing in our ability to host and incubate the AMDC for the last six and half years’.

“It is with great pride that we are gathered here to celebrate having a viable AMDC, which is now transitioning into an AU Specialized Agency. This handover is therefore an important milestone. It underscores the concrete programmes, partnerships and prospects that demonstrate AMDC’s role as facilitator of choice, for African countries and their global partners seeking to realize AMV aspirations,” she said.

Ms. Songwe said going forward, continued collaboration among AMDC’s partners and stakeholders remained vital. She said the ECA remained committed to supporting the AMDC’s work.

“Now we must ensure that AMDC’s work goes forward, as Africa strives to assert its agency in the strategic management of its mineral resources. In so doing, our credibility depends on the extent to which we remain true to Africa’s historic imperative for an AMV paradigm. That imperative applies yesterday, today and tomorrow,” she said.

For his part, the AUC Deputy Chairperson, Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, applauded the ECA and partners, including the Canadian and Australian governments, for supporting and nurturing the AMDC to the level that enabled it to support member States.

“The AMDC has a footprint in more than 25 member States of the African Union. This is indeed a great achievement,” said Ambassador Quartey, adding enough resources had been mobilized to support the transition of the AMDC from ECA to the AUC.

The AMDC will be hosted at the AUC before moving to a host country.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Scaling Up Value Creation and Local Development in the Mining Sector in Ghana

amdc.editor — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 08:16:48 +0000

Africa is the most mineral-rich continent by square kilometre and, for more than one century, has been engaging in industrial-scale mining for export to supply the world’s most advanced industrial sectors. The continent, however, is entangled in a paradox: notwithstanding its rich
endowments and highly coveted resources, the mining sector has failed to drive economic development and wealth creation in many countries. Resource-rich countries have been unable to attract sufficient investment in other diversified activities along their value chains, commensurate with their share of global resources. Sadly, countries remain over-dependent on the export of raw materials and continue to import most of the inputs that the mining sector needs to operate. Mineral value chains are the weakest link of African mineral-rich economies,
and Ghana is no exception.

In Ghana, as elsewhere in Africa, mineral resources, in particular gold, have shaped the economic landscape for more than 100 years. The country is the second-largest African gold producer and ranks tenth in the world, and produces other minerals such as bauxite, manganese, iron ore and diamond. It also has proven reserves of many other minerals, including lithium. Commercial oil production commenced in 2010.

The economic contribution of the mining sector in Ghana cannot be overstated. Mining has no doubt brought in significant fiscal payments: total fiscal receipts attributed to the mining sector alone accounted for 22 per cent of government revenue in 2016. The sector is also the largest source of investment inflows from the world’s biggest gold-producing countries and the leading export earner, with a total share of 45.5 per cent in 2016, far ahead of the second and third main exporting sectors, namely, cocoa, which accounted for 22.3 per cent, and crude oil, at 12.5 per cent of total export earnings.

scaling_up_value_creation_ghana_report_final_version.pdf

Scaling Up Value Creation and Local Development in the Mining Sector in Ghana

Proceedings of the Special Symposium: Geology and Mineral Information System (GMIS) Strategy to Domesticate the Africa Mining Vision at a Country Level

amdc.editor — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 09:16:45 +0000

The GMIS Strategy was proposed by the African Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) to facilitate the strengthening of the African production, management and dissemination of geological and mineral information (GMI) in connection with the implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV) and the domestication of the Country Mining Vision (CMV). The Strategy sees geological and geospatial information as crucial for several important legal, economic, social and environmental applications in mining and broad development processes in Africa. It is planned to coordinate, set direction, create alignment, build commitment, promote collaboration, establish trust, mobilize supporters, and facilitate activities from different GMIS initiatives in the continent.

The GMIS coordination meeting as well as the special symposium were conducted during the 35th International Geological Congress (IGC35) held from 27 August to September 4, 2016 in Cape Town South Africa. The International Geological Congress (IGC), originally the International Congress of Geologists, was founded on August 25, 1876. The need of holding international congresses was increasingly felt among the community of geologists in Europe and North America as early as March 3,1874. Since then 34 Congresses which are visited by a large number of geologists from all continents were organized every 4 years based on a bidding process. Africa had a chance to organize the Congress for the first time in Algeria more than 50 years ago. It was in Oslo, Norway in 2008 that the South African bid won and started preparing the 35th International Geological Congress. Eventhough the meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa, it was an African meeting which promoted the African diverse geology, society and cutlure. This was an opportunity for the African Minerals Development Center (AMDC) to be involved at this International Congress by organizing a symposium to present and discuss its GMIS Strategy. The activities that were undertaken by the AMDC during the Congress were related mostly to the implementation of the GMIS strategy. They include:

1. A Pre-IGC35 meeting of the GMIS Coordination Committee, as well as the Annual meeting of the Organiztion of Afrian Geological Surveys (OAGS)
2. Organization and convening of a Special Symposium: Geology and Mineral Information System (GMIS) strategy to domesticate the Africa Mining Vision at a country level; and
3. Organization of other meetings and participation in special sessions related to the implementation of the GMIS Strategy

proceedings_of_the_special_symposium_gmis_latest.pdf

Strategy Document 10/2016 - Organisation of African Geological Surveys

amdc.editor — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 08:27:13 +0000

The Geology and Mineral Information System (GMIS) Strategy was proposed by the Africa Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) to facilitate the strengthening of the African production, management and dissemination of geological and mineral information (GMI) in connection with the
implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV) and the domestication of the Country Mining Vision (CMV).

The Strategy is expected to serve as a guide for the AMDC and its four implementing partners consisting of the African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to provide strategic operational support for AU Members States and their Geological Survey Organizations (GSOs) and centres of excellence to improve GMIS, which will encourage investment across the whole Mineral Value Chain, facilitate price discovery for governments, support decision-making in contract negotiation and mining development and facilitate broad development processes.

The GMIS Strategy was approved by the AU Specialized Technical Committee Meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 24 May, 2016, with recommendations for the establishment and implementation of the GMIS Strategy’s Functional Structure, including its Coordination Committee.

oags_strategy_document_2016-final.pdf

Strategy Document 10/2016 - Organisation of African Geological Surveys

Geological and Mineral Information System (GMIS) Strategy: Meeting Report, Cape Town, South Africa, 24-26 August 2016

amdc.editor — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 06:56:17 +0000

The GMIS Strategy was proposed by the AMDC to facilitate the strengthening of the African production, management and dissemination of geological and mineral information (GMI) in connection with the implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV) and the domestication of the
Country Mining Vision (CMV). It consists of GSOs, universities, and other national and sub-national agencies with geological functions, the private sector and civil society groups that generate, hold or use geological information, along with Regional Economic Communities (RECs), centres of excellence and other international institutions and initiatives that undertake or support the generation, management or sharing of geological information. Together with these entities, their activities and their data form a Pan-African geological and information system.

The Strategy is expected to serve as a guide for the AMDC and its implementing partners to provide strategic operational support for AU Members States and their Geological Survey Organizations (GSOs) and centres of excellence to improve GMIS, which will encourage investment across the whole mineral value chain, facilitate price discovery for governments, support decision-making in contract negotiations and mining development, and facilitate broad development processes. It is also planned to coordinate, set direction, create alignment, build commitment, promote collaboration, establish trust, mobilize supporters, and facilitate activities from different GMIS initiatives in the continent.

gmis_strategy_report_-_cape_town_-_august_2016.pdf

Geological and Mineral Information System (GMIS) Strategy: Meeting Report, Cape Town, South Africa, 24-26 August 2016

Desktop Review of African Geological Survey Organisation Capacities and Gaps

amdc.editor — Wed, 30 May 2018 06:53:55 +0000

The African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) is implementing the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), which was adopted by African Heads of State at the twelfth ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union, in February 2009. The Geological and Mining Information System is a key cluster of the Action Plan for the Implementation of AMV (2012). Geological survey organisations (GSOs) in Africa are important to the success of AMV and any work on geological information. As such, this report aims to make an initial assessment of the capacity of African GSOs
relative to the geological information needs of each country and identify some next steps for AMDC and its partners (from within and outside of Africa) to take to address gaps. The report and its findings are based on a literature review of existing capacity assessments of African
GSOs and a desktop gap analysis of geological information needs relative to the information available from African GSOs.

The literature review and gap analysis show that most African GSOs are deficient in capacity and geological information. This limits the ability of African countries to reach their minerals and development potential; it may also limit the sustainability of mineral related income to various African countries. Nearly half of all African economies rely on mining, quarrying and petroleum for 5 per cent or more of their measured GDP, yet at the same time “African states lack basic geological mapping or, at best, are poorly mapped”, according to AMV (AMV, 2009, p.15). In fact, only six African GSOs were rated by Geoscience Australia (Kay and others, 2012) as having either a strong capacity (South Africa) or the “capacity to undertake major geoscientific surveys and disseminate data efficiently” (Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Namibia and the United Republic of Tanzania). All other countries were rated as either having some capacity, limited capacity, or no information or GSO was detected. From these results, it is clear that many African countries that have existing minerals industries are risking the sustainability of these industries due to a lack of public geological information and the need for adequate policies, legislation, regulation, licensing and minerals practices. Furthermore, other countries with the potential for minerals development are postponing the establishment of artisanal and small scale mining (ASM)1 development and industrial scale minerals development due to a lack of geological information.

desktop_review_of_african_geological_survey_organisation_capacities_and_gaps_2018.pdf

Mining Indaba 2018

amdc.editor — Wed, 09 May 2018 07:54:38 +0000

5 February 2018 to 8 February 2018

Cape Town, South Africa

Mining Indaba is the world’s largest gathering stakeholders and partners in African mining. An average of 7,000 mining industry professionals from more than 100 countries and 2,300 companies are expected to attend the event with the intent to establish vital relationships to sustain their investment interests. More than 45 African and non-African government delegations are also expected. AMDC’s role in the event, through a number of events and engagements with governments and private sector leaders, is to promote wide understanding among stakeholders on the added value and vital relevance of African Mining Vision.

The event will lead off with a full day Ministerial Symposium where Mining Ministers from member states and officials from development partners will gather together to have a robust series of discussions on governments’ role in positioning African nations as prime destinations for mining and partnerships on the continent. The Symposium will be under the umbrella of the Africa Mining Vision Day.

The event also engages the most prominent Mining CEOs, African Mining Ministers and major industry organizations and multilaterals such as the World Bank Group, African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Chamber of Mines South Africa and the African Development Bank.

The Ministerial Symposium takes place on Sunday and sets the scene for the rest of the Mining Indaba event. It is attended by the top 100 mining company and government leaders.

Policy Guidance: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Policy Guidance for the Country Mining Vision

amdc.editor — Wed, 09 May 2018 07:33:53 +0000

This Guidance Note is a reference framework for the development of an Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) Policy that is aligned to the aspirations of the Africa Mining Vision (AMV).

“… Harnesses the potential of artisanal and small-scale mining to stimulate local/national entrepreneurship, improve livelihoods and advance integrated rural social and economic development …” AMV, 2009

“A viable and sustainable ASM sector that contributes to growth and development.” AMV Action Plan (2013)

In Africa, the number of people associated with ASM activities is estimated to be more than 9 million and about 50% of these are women (Hayes, 2008).

There are many reasons why the rural poor end up in ASM. These include historic traditional practices, seasonal income augmentation, and coping strategies for economic shock resulting from amongst other things drought,

asm_policy_guidance_version_2.pdf

Policy Guidance: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Policy Guidance for the Country Mining Vision

Policy Brief: Responsible Mineral Supply Chains for ASM in Africa - The Case of Conflict Minerals

amdc.editor — Wed, 09 May 2018 07:20:04 +0000

The issue of responsible mineral supply chains has taken centre stage in the African mining sector in the last few decades as a response to the challenge of conflict minerals. ASM is often fraught with controversy and this is especially the case with conflict minerals.

Conflict minerals have attracted world attention in view of concerns over abuse of revenues that come from high value minerals that are extracted in conflict zones of the world. It has been documented that mineral trade, taxation and transportation from certain regions provide an income to groups that violate environmental and human rights and perpetrate corruption.

policy_brief_-_responsible_mineral_supply_chains_for_asm_in_africa-the_case_of_conflict_minerals.pdf

Policy Brief: Responsible Mineral Supply Chains for ASM in Africa - The Case of Conflict Minerals