The Africans for Africa Fund (AfA Fund), yesterday, officially launched a $250 million initiative to transform ownership and participation on the continent’s lucrative mining sector.
  
Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Managing Director of the AfA Initiative, Tim Tokun, explained that the fund is to empower Africans to take control of their mineral wealth and shift away from exploitative global models that have long favoured external actors.

At the initiative unveiled at the AFNIS 2025 Summit, the AfA Fund is a collaborative effort by Core International, Motimosé Metals, Africa Minerals Strategy Group, and Allied Trust Asset Management.
 
He said: “The AfA Initiative has been actively courting institutional investors. Advanced discussions are underway with 10 institutions, and the team expects to close an initial $50 million within the first 90 days of launch.
 
“This capital will fund a diversified portfolio of early-stage mining projects with strong local ownership. The fund’s first phase is expected to close at $100 million, supporting five to seven investments within the first year. A second fund, projected at $150 million, will bring total capitalisation to $250 million.”
 
Tokun noted that in 2021 alone, more materials were mined globally than from the dawn of human civilisation up to 1950, underscoring the growing relevance of mining in the modern economy, adding that the continent holds 35 per cent of the world’s mineral resources, yet continues to receive marginal benefits from its extraction.
 
He added: “For too long, African nations and communities have primarily benefited from resource rent, a model that often fails to trickle down to the grassroots. The AfA Fund seeks to fundamentally decouple from these traditional economic structures, which have historically favoured the global North.  
 
“The AfA Initiative, which the fund is a part of, will achieve three critical objectives: create wealth for a meaningful magnitude of Africans from African resources. Gain respectable parity alongside foreign exploration and mining companies. Facilitate a visible uplifting of frontline communities, who are the indigenous landlords of these mineral resources and hold the social licence to operate.”
 
In a statement, Co-founder of the AfA Initiative, Suleiman Zakari, said the fund was conceived as a direct response to a projected $2.1 trillion shortfall in mining investment needed by 2050, citing industry estimates.  
 
He said: “The need for 61 new copper mines and 52 new lithium mines to meet energy transformation requirements by 2050 underscores the urgency for innovative financing models. The AfA Fund positions itself as the panacea Africa has been seeking to rethink mining finance.”