Central Africa is one of the richest areas relating to geological resources on the African continent. Several national mining strategies conclude that mining is one of the key industries for future economic development in the sub-region. Commodities distribution, stakeholders and their interrelationships have been comprehensively studied during the AFRASO sub-project (2013-2017) by manifold case studies from Cameroon and in Central African Republic. It has been shown that government owned and private Asian investors systematically gained more influence in the commodities markets over the last 5-10 years. In the second project phase these empirical findings are being further consolidated by organizing an “Afrasia Stakeholder and Commodities Conference” in 2018 in Yaoundé (Cameroon) that underpins general validity and strengthens ownership of local actors. Finally, an “Afrasian stakeholder’s model” will be set up to transform empirical findings to an abstract, theory based level.

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AFRASO field work: stakeholder dialogues in the rapidly growing African mining sector (J. Runge)

Further reading:

Nguepjouo, D. & J. Runge (in press, 2017): The Perceptions of Local Stakeholders of the Preponderance of Asians in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in Cameroon. – A. Graf & A. Hashim (eds.): African-Asian Encounters, New Cooperations and New Dependencies. International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Publications, Amsterdam University, pp. 47-77.

Nguepjouo, D. & J. Runge (2014): Geological resources, Nature of Mining and Interest of Asian Companies to Invest in Cameroon and Central African Republic (CAR). – Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil I, Heft 1: pp. 75-93.

Runge, J. & J. Shikwati (2011): Geological Resources and Good Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Holistic Approaches to Transparency and Sustainable Development in the Extractive Sector. – Taylor & Francis Publ. UK, pp. 1-292.