The country joins a growing rank of resource-rich nations seeking to benefit more from their mineral wealth.
On Friday, Gabon’s President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema announced that the country will ban all exports of unprocessed manganese from 2029. With the move, the Central African country aims to transition from an extractive industry to one centered on local value addition, thereby benefiting more from its mineral wealth. It joins a growing list of resource-rich nations, such as Namibia and Indonesia, which have already enacted similar bans on critical minerals to boost domestic refining. In February, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “unacceptable” for emerging economies to export raw materials only to re-import them as finished goods.
To support the transition, Gabon’s government is granting mining operators a three-year window to invest in processing facilities, train local workers, and modernize infrastructure.
Manganese is primarily used in the steel industry, but it is also a key component in battery manufacturing as a cathode material and has numerous minor applications in the chemical industry. According to the United States Geological Survey, Gabon is the world’s second-largest producer of manganese ore, accounting for nearly a quarter of global production capacity.
Photo: Sunshine Seeds via Canva
