What is wrong with us: Africans know mining, but do not understand the business and consequences of mining

The dangerous gap between knowing where minerals are and knowing what to do with them

Africa knows mining. We have known it for centuries. We know how to dig. We know how to follow a vein. We know how to wash soil until gold glitters. We know how to point at a hill and say, “We are sitting on money, but hungry.” But here is the uncomfortable truth we keep avoiding: We think we know mining, but most decision-makers and policymakers in mining generally do not understand the business of mining.

We understand extraction.
We understand survival digging.
We understand artisanal hustle.
We understand royalty slogans and production announcements.

What we do not understand, or refuse to fully confront, is mining as an economic system with long tails, delayed costs, generational consequences, and unforgiving arithmetic. This is not an accusation. It is a diagnosis. And like most diagnoses, it hurts because it is accurate.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) whispers:
“A man who celebrates the sound of digging but ignores the echo will soon hear hunger answering back.”

WE CELEBRATE HOLES, NOT BALANCE SHEETS

Across Africa, conversations about mining are worryingly shallow. We talk about tonnes, ounces, barrels, and carats. We cheer discoveries. We clap at production milestones. Then the room goes silent when anyone asks about cost curves, capital recovery periods, commodity price cycles, hedging strategies, environmental liabilities, or mine closure costs. Mining is not wealth by default. Mining is risk before reward. A mine can operate for years without creating real national value if contracts are poorly structured, costs are underestimated, or prices turn against expectations. Yet African debates often sound like this: “The mineral is there, so money must come.”

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) chuckles darkly:
“A man who counts chickens at the sight of eggs will soon negotiate with hunger.”

PRESENCE IS NOT PROSPERITY

Many African countries sit on mineral endowments that should make them prosperous. Yet some of the most mineral rich nations struggle with debt, unemployment, and environmental damage. Meanwhile, countries with far fewer natural resources often outperform mineral rich ones economically. The difference is not luck. It is understanding. Mining is an input, not a business model. The business of mining includes financing structures, fiscal regimes, infrastructure integration, skills development, downstream processing, and exit and rehabilitation planning. When these are absent, minerals become a curse with excellent public relations.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) sighs:
“Gold without wisdom is just heavy soil.”

THE ROYALTY ILLUSION

Royalties are politically attractive. They sound simple. They feel patriotic. They give the impression of guaranteed income. But royalties are blunt instruments. They are paid whether a company is profitable or not. When commodity prices fall, high royalties accelerate mine closures. When prices rise, poorly designed royalties capture little upside. Several African countries have lived this cycle repeatedly. Royalty increases during booms. Closures during downturns. Layoffs follow. Communities suffer. Governments act surprised.

What is wrong with us is not that we demand value.
It is that we demand numbers without understanding resilience.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) observes quietly:
“A cow milked without feeding will still die on schedule.”

THE COSTS WE PRETEND DO NOT EXIST

Mining looks profitable until we count what we deliberately exclude.

Polluted rivers that destroy fisheries.
Farmland rendered useless for generations.
Health costs from heavy metals and dust.
Abandoned pits that become death traps.
Communities displaced without economic alternatives.

These are not side effects. They are unpriced costs. In many African mining regions, agriculture collapses after mining begins. Food insecurity rises. When the mine closes, poverty deepens. Governments complain about illegal mining without admitting that legal mining laid the groundwork for desperation.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) laughs painfully:
“When gold leaves quietly, poverty stays behind to keep the house.”

ARTISANAL MINING: ROMANCE, REALITY, AND RUIN

We romanticise artisanal mining as empowerment. In reality, unmanaged artisanal mining often becomes environmental vandalism disguised as poverty alleviation. Children drop out of school for quick cash. Rivers are poisoned with mercury. Forests disappear. Informal economies grow violent. When enforcement finally arrives, livelihoods collapse overnight. Yet we act surprised every time.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) shakes its head:
“A child who sells his books to buy a shovel digs ignorance deeper.”

WE STOP THINKING AT THE MINE GATE

Perhaps the most damning indictment is this: Africa’s mining imagination ends at the mine gate.

Where are the refineries?
Where are the smelters?
Where are the battery plants?
Where are the jewellery clusters?
Where are the industrial ecosystems?

Countries that understand mining do not export rocks. They export industries. Those that do not export minerals and import finished goods, then complain about trade deficits.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) bursts into a bitter laugh:
“We sell firewood and buy matches, then argue about inflation.”

LESSONS FROM ELSEWHERE WE IGNORE

Norway did not confuse oil with wealth. It treated oil as temporary and built a sovereign wealth fund to protect future generations. Chile used copper to build institutions, fiscal discipline, and long term planning. Australia developed mining alongside skills, regulation, environmental enforcement, and local supplier industries. China understood early that mining alone does not build power. It invested heavily in processing, logistics, and downstream industries.

Africa often negotiates mining agreements like emergency loans. Quick signatures. Short thinking. Long regret.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) mutters:
“Those who rush to eat raw food spend longer in pain.”

GOVERNANCE IS THE MULTIPLIER

Mining magnifies governance quality. Where institutions are strong, mining can be transformative. Where institutions are weak, mining accelerates decay. Mining revenues without accountability fuel corruption, patronage, and social division. Communities fight. Regions feel cheated. National unity erodes. Instead of fixing governance, we blame mining.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) reminds us calmly:
“The mirror does not break the face. It only shows it.”

THE GENERATIONAL CRIME WE NORMALISE

Mining is finite. Minerals do not regenerate.

Every tonne extracted today is unavailable tomorrow. When mining revenues are spent on salaries, subsidies, and short term politics, future generations are quietly robbed.

Mining should build endowments, infrastructure, skills, and productive assets that outlive the mine.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) warns sternly:
“A father who sells the farm to throw a party feeds guests, not children.”

WHAT MUST CHANGE

1. Mining literacy must become non-negotiable. Policymakers and negotiators must understand cost structures, price cycles, environmental liabilities, and closure economics.
2. Contracts must prioritise value chains, not just royalties. Processing, skills transfer, and local supplier development must be built in.
3. Environmental and social costs must be priced honestly, not postponed politically.
4. Mining revenues must be invested, not consumed.
5. Life after mining must be planned before extraction begins.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) sums it up simply:
“A road is useful only if it leads somewhere.”

CONCLUSION: WHAT IS WRONG WITH US, AND WHAT HISTORY WILL NOT FORGIVE

What is wrong with us is not ignorance of where the minerals are.
What is wrong with us is our stubborn refusal to learn what minerals actually do to nations.

We behave as though discovery equals development.
As though extraction equals prosperity.
As though digging deeper automatically means thinking further.

It does not. Africa’s tragedy is not that it mines. It is that it mines without memory, without mathematics, and without moral imagination. We repeat the same mistakes with new minerals and new slogans, convinced that this time will be different, even when nothing in our thinking has changed.

We blame colonialism long after contracts are signed by African hands.
We blame investors after agreeing to terms we never studied.
We blame communities after destroying their livelihoods.
We blame corruption while quietly protecting incompetence.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) confronts us bluntly:
“A man who keeps falling into the same pit should stop blaming the darkness and ask why he keeps walking the same path.”

What is wrong with us is that we celebrate announcements more than outcomes. We applaud ribbon-cutting ceremonies and ignore balance sheets. We measure success in licences issued rather than industries built. We announce billions in investment while remaining silent about how little of it stays.

We speak loudly about sovereignty, yet surrender economic control quietly.
We chant ownership slogans, yet outsource understanding.
We demand respect globally while doubting ourselves locally.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) sighs deeply:
“You cannot demand honour with borrowed confidence.”

The most painful truth is this. Africa does not suffer from a shortage of minerals. It suffers from a shortage of seriousness. Seriousness about planning. Seriousness about governance. Seriousness about intergenerational responsibility.

We know mines will close, yet we behave as though they will last forever.
We know prices will fall, yet we spend as though booms are permanent.
We know land will be damaged, yet we pretend rehabilitation is optional.

And when consequences arrive, we act shocked, angry, and betrayed.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) shakes its head slowly:
“When a man ignores the calendar, time still keeps its appointments.”

History will not be impressed by how much Africa extracted. It will not care how many licences were issued or how many tonnes were exported. History will ask harder questions.
Did mining leave Africa stronger or weaker?
Did it build institutions or destroy them?
Did it create industries or deepen dependency?
Did it secure futures or mortgage them?

And perhaps the most unforgiving question of all: Did Africa finally learn, or did it simply dig faster? Until Africa understands mining as a temporary opportunity rather than a permanent identity, the continent will keep mistaking movement for progress. Until we treat minerals as seeds to be planted rather than fruit to be eaten, we will keep exporting wealth and importing regret.

NyansaKasa (words of wisdom) delivers the final warning:
“The ground does not betray a nation. A nation betrays itself when it refuses to think.”

That is what is wrong with us. And that is what must change.

By Ing. Prof. Douglas Boateng
Chartered Director IoD UK | Chartered Engineer UK
Fellow Institute of Directors UK | Fellow Ghana Institution of Engineering
Governance, industrialisation, and supply chain strategist