The scramble for African mining by world economic powers: Concern for Africa’s

Abstract

Abstract. Mining has become a very lucrative business for the global economic powers. On the African continent, this seemingly opportunity for developing African countries like Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa that enjoy huge mineral deposits comes with its repercussions in relation to their respective economic performances as they open their doors to selected top economies of the world. This paper therefore looks at the general mining environment on the continent as a whole, narrowed down to specialized countries of Africa on coal mining, crude oil and gold mining with emphasis in the South African, Nigerian and Ghanaian context. Using descriptive research design and the correlation method of analysis, this conceptual paper identifies that with the Africa mining industry is becoming more scrambled for and this has left wavering relationship with the economic growth on the African continent despite the improvements on the economies of the scramblers. As recommendation however, the study suggested that the various governments in Africa should review some obsolete negotiation terms which are against the modern realities in the mining sector so as not to be overtaken by events as they open their doors to foreign investors in the mining sectors.

Keywords. Africa, Mining, Mineral Products, Correlation, Economy, Scramble.

JEL. F66, F10, F13.