By Palma Ileye
Executive Director of Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa), Dr. Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, has said that Africa must develop the infrastructure, market intelligence and processing capacity required to strengthen its influence in global metals markets.
Asokoro-Ogaji, who will speak at the Shanghai Metals Expo 2026 in China in November, said the continent could not build pricing power merely by having large mineral deposits beneath its soil.
“Africa cannot build pricing power simply by having minerals beneath its soil. We must put our African mineral ecosystem together — our producers, geological and market data, processing capacity, standards, laboratories, commodity exchanges, financial institutions and regional value chains — if we want to become more relevant in the markets where value is determined,” she said.
Asokoro-Ogaji will participate as a roundtable speaker at the event, organised by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), where discussions will centre on “Eastern Pricing 2.0: Integrating Futures, Physical Markets, Industry and Finance for the Next Stage of Global Metals Pricing.”
She is expected to use the platform to highlight the need for greater African participation in the systems through which the value of the continent’s mineral resources was determined.
She said the emergence of new centres of metals trading, processing, manufacturing and price discovery provided an opportunity for African governments, producers and industry stakeholders to reassess the continent’s position in the global minerals market.
The development comes amid increasing global competition for copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements, which are critical to industrialisation and the energy transition.
The WiM-Africa Executive Director said Africa’s response should go beyond negotiating better terms for the export of raw materials, stressing the need for increased beneficiation and processing, reliable mineral data, traceability and certification, market intelligence and access to finance.
She also called for stronger regional trading systems and direct relationships between African producers and international buyers.
According to her, women and smaller-scale producers would particularly benefit from access to credible prices, mineral testing, market information, traceability systems and direct buyer relationships.
She further called for greater collaboration among governments, mining companies, commodity exchanges, financial institutions, laboratories, geological institutions, processors, traders and research organisations.
Asokoro-Ogaji’s participation follows expanded strategic cooperation between WiM-Africa and Shanghai Metals Market on mining, metals, battery minerals, market connectivity, knowledge exchange, technology and industry development.
WiM-Africa said the cooperation would create opportunities for stronger Africa-China engagement while supporting efforts to increase African participation in the global mineral value chain.
