‘Africa should take leading global oil production role’

Africa’s mining potential is unfolding and a number of economies are becoming more important in terms of global mineral production. According to KPMG’s John Saker, the mining sector can unlock significant socioeconomic benefits for Africa. He said the West African greenstone belts had seen strong investment which had transformed countries like Burkina Faso and Mali, while other emerging economies included leading gold producers Ghana and Tanzania. “Zambia is experiencing a revival of its copper industry with new mines being developed. Output is expected to reach two million tonnes in the next five to seven years,” he told FTW. “Namibia may become a leading resource economy due to its enormous uranium potential.” He said with large tracts of the continent not being systematically geologically surveyed at an appropriate scale, it was likely that Africa had much larger mineral bases than was currently known. “Africa must take advantage of these large mineral resources,” he said. With its considerable oil and gas resources it remained unacceptable that 38 out of 53 African countries remained net oil importers meaning that high and volatile oil prices remained a challenge. “As oil production is expected to continue to rise at an average rate of 6% per year for the foreseeable future, it is possible to transform Africa into an important player in the global oil production and resource extraction market. “It is important to clearly establish Africa’s position and to develop strategies for future supply adequacy,” said Saker.