Malawi has banned mineral exports to boost transparency and reclaim lost revenues, following the steps of African states like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. This move marks a significant step toward breaking the cycle of foreign exploitation that has long drained Africa’s vast mineral wealth while leaving its people impoverished.
Despite rich deposits of rubies, sapphires, and graphite, among other minerals, Malawi has benefitted little, with foreign firms reaping billions while 71 per cent of Malawians live in ‘extreme poverty,’ a story that is more the rule than the exception on the African continent.
Take the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), home to an estimated $24 trillion in mineral reserves, which profit multinational corporations outside Africa. Meanwhile, the Congolese people enjoy none of the benefits. Instead, the people have been paying, with at least 6 million k*llings as of 2010 and 7 million internally displaced as of 2024. Armed groups like the Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia have been seizing vast swaths of eastern DRC and pushing people off their land so they can control mineral supplies that supply the inventories of companies like Apple, Dell, Google, Microsoft and Tesla.
Now, Malawi is pushing back on the phenomenon of exploitation across the African continent by demanding $309 billion from US-based Columbia Gem House for underreported ruby exports. The southern African country could secure greater economic gains from its resources, bringing in $30 billion from ‘green mineral’ extraction between 2026 and 2040, according to the World Bank’s Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) report, released in January 2025.
Which countries should follow in the AES and Malawi’s footsteps?
Sources
News
https://www.trtafrika.com/africa/malawi-bans-export-of-minerals-to-audit-contracts-18264804
Mali Barrick Gold
Niger Orano
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjd70mzge2o
Malawi poverty
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malawi/overview
DRC poverty
https://borgenproject.org/why-is-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-poor
Human cost of conflict
Western corporations
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/tech/apple-microsoft-tesla-dell-congo-cobalt-mining/index.html
$800,000 in mining taxes
Malawi minerals
https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/malawi-mining-and-minerals
World Bank report