From Lithium to Tin to Gold: Nigeria Hosts AFNIS 2025 as Africa’s Resource Leaders Unite in Abuja this July

Core International | May 29, 2025 | 12:21 pm

The African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS) is returning for its landmark fourth edition in Abuja, Nigeria, from July 15–17, 2025, at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa. Hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the summit enjoys high-level backing from critical ministries including Solid Minerals Development (designated Chief Host), Steel Development, Petroleum Resources, Finance, Power, Environment, Foreign Affairs, and Industry, Trade & Investment.

What Is AFNIS?

AFNIS is an annual pan-African convening of government officials, financiers, operators, and experts across mining, energy, power, renewables, and the broader investment ecosystem. The summit’s core mission is to catalyse investment and policy innovation toward the sustainable development of Africa’s natural resources with a keen focus on local content, value addition, and cross-sector partnerships.

The 2024 edition was notably opened by Nigeria’s President His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and included a presidential meeting with participating African ministers and the Africa Minerals Strategy Group, underscoring the summit’s importance as a diplomatic and investment platform.

AFNIS 2025: Building Momentum

AFNIS 2025 is poised to be the “most impactful of all the editions,” according to Suleiman Zakari, Co-Chair of AFNIS. “We’re seeing strong interest from across the continent and globally, government leaders, CEOs, and investors are recognizing the importance of working together,” Zakari added.

This year’s summit is already marked by a major milestone: the commissioning of a state-of-the-art lithium processing plant just outside Abuja. The project, spearheaded by ASBA & Wisdom International a subsidiary of Asba Group of Companies and indigenous company, reflects Nigeria’s pivot from raw mineral exports to domestic value addition.

This comes on the back of significant reforms under President Tinubu’s administration. In 2024 alone, the solid minerals sector generated over ₦38 billion, a more than six-fold increase from ₦6 billion in 2023. These gains were enabled by a policy overhaul championed by Dr. Oladele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development and Chief Host of AFNIS 2025. Additionally, Nigeria is planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in data generation within the next 2 years.

Other landmark announcements expected at the summit include a new tin refinery by a consortium of a Nigerian and Ugandan companies, as well as high-level report by Sustainable Energy for All on investment opportunities across the mining value chain for energy companies.

Cross-Sector Advantage: Building Bridges for Impact

AFNIS takes a deliberately cross-sectoral approach positioning itself as a collaborative platform that integrates mining, oil and gas, power, renewables, and finance.

This design creates unique deal-making and policy synergy opportunities, especially in advancing Africa’s industrial ambitions. A central theme this year is the mobilization of domestic capital into mining through equity ownership, project finance, and local listings.

As Stephen Ross, CEO of Desert Metals, put it during a recent webinar hosted by AFNIS: For mining in Africa to be transformative, African capital must be in the driver’s seat. Shared equity is shared accountability. Foreign companies would love to have African capital in their projects and there is a significant opportunity in this.

This thinking underpins the Africans for Africa Initiative, which was first introduced at AFNIS 2024 and will officially launch the Africans for Africa Fund at the 2025 edition. The Fund aims to mobilize African capital and increase local equity participation in mining ventures. By bridging early-stage financing gaps, it will support exploration and feasibility projects through equity investments in junior exploration companies as well as act as a dedicated project development vehicle for high-potential assets across the continent.

Nigeria and Africa’s Mining Landscape: The Next Frontier

Nigeria is emerging as a serious contender in the global critical minerals race. With over 44 identified mineral types, including gold, silver, lithium, tin, nickel, manganese, and rare earths, the country is moving quickly to build a globally competitive mining ecosystem.

Reforms under the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development backed by a progressive Mining Code, central Cadastre System, and government-supported financing schemes have reshaped investor confidence. One such instrument is the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), which now partners with institutions like the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) to support project preparation and de-risking.

Under the leadership of Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi, SMDF has focused on enabling early-stage exploration, bankable feasibility studies, and value chain linkages a model being replicated in other parts of the continent. The SMDF is also doing commercial volumes of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI).

Across Africa, similar momentum is building. Countries are fast-tracking critical minerals policies and investor incentives, recognizing that global demand for green transition minerals presents a generational opportunity.

However, without local ownership, the continent risks exporting value instead of capturing it. AFNIS seeks to change that narrative by positioning Africa not just as a resource base, but as an investment frontier driven by collaboration and its own institutions, governments, and people.

Why AFNIS Matters

AFNIS is a regional development platform, deal room, and policy innovation hub. For senior executives, analysts, and stakeholders tracking frontier markets AFNIS offers rare access to high-level dialogue, exclusive project launches, and collaborative networks that shape Africa’s natural resources future.

In the words of Suleiman Zakari, “Our wealth is locked in silos. AFNIS exists to break those silos—so we can channel our resources and knowledge into impactful change.” From lithium to local capital, AFNIS 2025 promises to be a summit of real substance, strategy, and solutions.

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