President Bola Tinubu will chair a high-level African critical minerals summit in New York next month as the continent steps up efforts to secure greater value from its vast mineral resources.
The Third High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa is scheduled for September 21, 2026, in Manhattan, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Tinubu, who chairs the General Assembly of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group, AMSG, is expected to lead discussions involving African governments, investors, development finance institutions, multilateral organisations and executives in mining, technology and logistics.
The meeting is themed “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition.”
The summit comes as demand for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, manganese and rare chair,arth elements rises because of their importance to electric vehicles, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence infrastructure and defence technologies.
Africa has significant deposits of many of these minerals, but much of its mineral production has historically left the continent in raw or minimally processed form.
That pattern has allowed countries and companies outside Africa to capture a larger share of the value generated through refining, manufacturing and the production of finished goods.
AMSG wants to change that.
The group said the New York meeting would focus on moving African economies beyond the traditional extract-and-export model towards processing, manufacturing and integrated mineral value chains.
The initiative builds on discussions held at the second AMSG High-Level Roundtable in New York in September 2025, where participants agreed to prepare for a third roundtable in 2026 under the theme “From Resources to Wealth.”
The 2026 meeting is expected to advance a proposed Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Charter, known as CIEAD, which is designed to provide a framework for cooperation in the critical minerals sector.
The proposed framework will address policy coordination, investment mobilisation, local value addition, supply-chain security and efforts to strengthen Africa’s negotiating position in the global minerals market.
A proposed CIEAD Finance Window is also expected to feature in the discussions, with the aim of mobilising funding for mineral processing, infrastructure, technology and other components required to establish competitive value chains within Africa.
AMSG has described the initiative as a shift from policy discussions towards practical implementation.
The organisation’s broader agenda has gained momentum in Nigeria. In June, Nigeria ratified the AMSG charter, becoming the fourth founding member state to do so. Tinubu was also formally installed as chairperson of the AMSG General Assembly, while Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake took over as chairman of the Ministerial Committee.
AMSG Secretary-General Moses Micheal Engadu is expected to participate in the New York gathering alongside Alake.
The group was established in 2024 by African governments to coordinate critical minerals policies, align investment strategies, strengthen minerals security and improve Africa’s engagement with international partners.
The urgency behind the initiative has grown as major economies compete for reliable supplies of minerals considered essential to the energy transition and advanced technologies.
For African governments, the challenge is no longer simply how to attract mining investment but how to ensure that extraction creates industries, jobs, infrastructure and long-term economic value within the continent.
The September summit will therefore place Africa’s mineral strategy under renewed global attention, with Tinubu expected to lead discussions on how the continent can turn its resource advantage into greater industrial and economic power.
