The “Colonial” African Minerals Race

In Africa, China’s burgeoning influence has been symbolized by Chinese infrastructure in the region. From roads built in Angola to gleaming towers in Nairobi, China’s rush to expand its Belt and Road Initiative in Africa is being framed in the context of its race for critical minerals with the United States. Currently, many Western Analysts frame the US/China presence in Africa as being shaped by the emerging geopolitical competition for minerals. For instance, the US and China are each funding railways linking copper mines in Central Africa to the opposite coast of the continent to better transport critical minerals across the continent. Yet as both China and the US seek to strike gold, they’re leaving Africa in the dust. Through their emphasis on extraction and not advancement, the creation of colonial infrastructure models is ushering in a bygone era in Africa.

Colonial Background

Extraction is nothing new for Africa. In The Slave Trade, The: History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, Hugh Thomas described the extractive practices of the African Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, noting how African leaders usually worked with colonists to perpetuate the extraction of slaves for colonial needs abroad. Additionally, African leaders found profits to be made in copper, gold, rubber, and timber, which prompted them to build infrastructure that connected mines and plantations to ports, swiftly pushing minerals from the interior to the exterior. In that sense, what infrastructure is being built in Africa today serves similar purposes. 

The US in Africa

The US has primarily taken an extractive approach to Africa. Take for example the Lobito Corridor, a $2.3 billion project funded by the US, EU, and African Development Bank that aims to expand the existing railway connecting Angola to Africa’s Copperbelt region to hasten the movement of minerals. This “new” project isn’t new at all but is merely an attempt to complete a colonial-era dream. In addition, US attempts to support Africa in other fields are nonexistent or on the verge of being cut, like the US AGOA(African Growth and Opportunity Act) and PEPFAR(President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), two programs that the Trump Administration has earmarked for potential cuts in the immediate future.

China in Africa

China’s African presence has been a lot more targeted than the US. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has issued over $700 billion worth of contracts from 2013-2023.  Many of these projects, such as Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway or Mineral investment in Botswana, all reek of colonial-era logic. In particular, all of China’s most prominent projects are either aimed at connecting certain cities to ports, or at turning certain areas of Africa into prime regions of mineral extraction. China’s investment in cobalt and lithium mines in Zambia, Namibia, and Zimbabwe are prime examples of China’s goals. 

In both the US and China, the African race for minerals is becoming a colonial-style race to the bottom, vying to collect and control critical mineral supply chains. The world has yet to overcome this colonial-era mindset, shifting away from hopes of sustainable development on the continent. Thus, despite the US and China standing for innovation and advancement in the decades following WW2, their recent “progress” in Africa only reminds the world of a bygone, colonial era. 

Read more here:

• Hippolyte Fofack, Brookings

• Nicolas van de Walle, Kyle Sorlie Titlow, Yannick Pengl, Philip Roessler, and Robert Marty, The Centre for Economic Policy Research

• Venkateswaran Lokanathan, Observer Research Foundation

• Duncan Money, World Politics Review