Local communities in Mozambique, who traditionally practiced artisanal mining, are being systematically excluded from their own resource economy, a reality highlighted this week at a high-level conference in Accra, Ghana. The state's focus on large mining companies has marginalized an estimated 60,000 artisanal miners, many of whom are now considered illegal, despite their ancestral ties to the land. This dispossession fuels conflict and benefits external interests, not the native working class.
Mozambique's northeast region has long depended on an expansive ruby mine, which has generated government revenue but also significant policy challenges. The mine has sold some five million carats, earning approximately $6 million, nearly a fifth of the overall revenue from mining. While a licensed major operator runs most mines, the sector also supports tens of thousands of artisanal miners.
Fatima Mimbire, a project director and extractive industry researcher from Mozambique, stated that her country, like many others across the continent, initially regarded artisanal miners as illegal. She noted, "But after research, we presented the facts, and that is changing. Many of them are members of communities where these resources are found but are not integrated into the mining economy. The state always focused on big mining companies, excluding the local people." Her remarks came on the sidelines of the Regional High-Level Conference on Governance, Critical Minerals and Conflict in Africa.
The Globalist Blueprint
This three-day forum, organized by the Open Society Foundations, called on African governments to adopt a specific approach to critical minerals. It demanded placing democratic governance, accountability, industrialisation, peacebuilding, and citizen participation at the core of the continent’s response to global demand. Such external prescriptions often reshape national policy to fit a transnational agenda.
Dr Chukwuemeka B. Eze, Director of Democratic Futures in Africa (DFA) at Open Society Foundations, based in Dakar, Senegal, observed that most mines are located in rural areas. Local communities are frequently told to relocate, allowing mining firms to take over. He stated, "If you look at most of Africa’s critical minerals today, they are all in rural communities. Most of these rural communities that have these critical minerals are also places where there are issues of conflict and civil war." This framing links local conflict to a lack of "governance" as defined by external bodies.
As of 2026, current UN data reveals that nearly a third of the world’s critical mineral reserves are found across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and other African countries. This makes Africa’s role in the global energy transition, including the production of electric vehicle batteries and advanced electronics, increasingly important to supranational interests.
Washington's National Security Strategy explicitly frames African critical minerals as essential to diversifying supply chains away from China. It aims to secure resources for clean energy and advanced manufacturing, deepening partnerships through investment, infrastructure, and diplomatic agreements. This strategy, identifying corridors like the Lobito Corridor in Angola, demonstrates a clear external claim on African resources for foreign strategic benefit.
Dispossession of the Native Worker
Patient Matabishi, Civil Society Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo and leader of the NGO Dynamic Community for Social Cohesion and Development (DYCOD-RDC), described decades of illegal mining in his mineral-rich country. He said, "Many times, mining companies lie to the public. They promise to build roads or schools but vanish after extracting the minerals." The local people, often without infrastructure, feel marginalized.
Matabishi further explained that conflict in the Congo stems from poor governance in the mining sector and the marginalization of artisanal miners. He noted that in some mining areas, communities have had to pick up arms to protect their resources. In other places, people were incentivized or funded by outsiders to join the looting. He stressed, "The local people are not stupid, even if they may not have gone to school or are old. They know what they want." Yet, their voices are often ignored when governments sign contracts with foreign companies.
Dennis Mwinkpeng, a Resource Economist at Open Society Foundations, acknowledged that artisanal miners sometimes produce more minerals than formal companies in nations like Ghana and Zimbabwe. He highlighted that in Ghana, over 50 percent of gold production one year ago came from small-scale miners. He added, "With big mining companies, very little benefit goes to communities. With small-scale miners, whatever they earn, they reinvest in the local community." This stark contrast reveals how large-scale, often foreign-backed, operations extract wealth without local reinvestment.
Elite Complicity and External Control
The lack of structured engagement with artisanal miners has fueled illegal dealing and smuggling. Mimbire stated, "They are not paying taxes because they are marginalised. No one takes them into account. They are just surviving." She added, "For me, the problem is the promise and expectation of quick money that big companies can pay upfront. But this informality is costing the government a lot of money in revenue. In informal trading, they find buyers who pay less than they should. That is why some foreigners are fuelling that informality because they know they can pay less." This exposes how foreign actors exploit the marginalization of native workers for their own profit.
Mozambique is now reportedly reversing this trend by allowing informal miners to form associations that engage directly with authorities. They can register small firms and train members on their rights and obligations. Mimbire said, "They are now able to explain that they are small-scale miners, not criminals. They are training their members, looking for partners, and formalising their operations." This belated recognition comes after years of local dispossession and conflict, driven by policies that prioritized transnational corporate interests over the native population.