Ethiopia Joins Race To Refine

Introduction
Following the path taken by Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali in reclaiming its mines. Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) announced construction of a gold refinery marking a continental shift to keep the value of African gold in African hands. Bar by bar, the continent is learning the oldest lesson of wealth, that the money is never in the raw material, it is in who gets to finish it. And now the race is on, race to refine and capture more value.

Who is building?
Ethiopia is building its first ever large scale gold refinery plant ending decades- long practice of sending raw, unrefined gold to Dubai.Under a new policy by the country's bank, National Bank of Ethiopia,all locally mined gold must be refined into standard bullion bars inside the country before export. The project is expected to be operational in mid to late 2026.The project is being built by Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), the country's sovereign wealth fund. Basically, the Ethiopian state owns the infrastructure and not some foreign interest. The project is being framed under "Ethiopia Tamrit", that is, made in Ethiopia brand.

The Continental Trend- "Race to refine"

Africa holds nearly 30% of the world's gold reserves and according to the World Gold Council, African countries produced a total of 979,2 metric tons of gold in 2022. Before 2015, only South Africa in the whole of Africa had a major gold refinery. Between 2018-2025, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon built refineries to capture artisanal gold. 2025-2026, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania and now Ethiopia have and are constructing gold refineries.

Significance
The significance of Ethiopia launching its first large-scale gold refining infrastructure cannot be underestimated.This means Ethiopian gold would not be sent abroad for refining. The target is to double the current national gold production by the year 2028. By so doing, Ethiopia is positioning itself as East Africa's next gold powerhouse and breaking the tradition of sending raw gold to Dubai- breaking Dubai gold monopoly.This also fits well with continental trends.

Dangerous Pattern- Exporting Value and Importing Poverty

Exporting and selling raw wealth to rich countries is old thinking, reinforcing imperial, colonial and neo- colonial tradition which has not only resulted in the looting of Africa's wealth but perpertually kept Africa impoverished.This neo- colonial, exploitative and extractive pattern from which Africa was and is losing out is the "digging and exporting" pattern. Africa was / is digging minerals, shipping raw materials, others refine and Africa expensively buys back .

This dangerous pattern was and is not helping Africa's quest to meaningfully benefit from its own wealth.The beneficial pattern which the rest of Africa should strive to is mining, refining, adding value, reinvesting added value in local economies then ship or export.That is what Africa should strive to work towards. Africa should refuse as Ethiopia is refusing the colonial and neo- colonial dangerous pattern and arrangement in the most concrete way possible, by building the machinery to finish its own gold on its own soil.

Change Rules
For centuries African resources have been leaving the mother continent unprocessed, refined and stamped and sold by others who pocket the added value. Before an African resource touches the global markets let it start by touching the African soil....how? By refining at home (Africa) it means the African economy keeps a value premium, it creates jobs, it promotes infrastructural development and above all protects African wealth by making efforts to reduce leakage and to benefit Africa before benefitting everyone else. Refining in Africa is a way to put a stop to that century old extractive and exploitative pattern.Process the minerals at home, raise export earnings, strengthen the continent's foreign currency reserves, and shut down the smuggling, the corruption and the leakage that has drained and still continues to drain Africa dry.

This is what resource or economic sovereignty looks like. Moving away from lip service and slogans to refineries. For generations the colonial, imperial arrangement was fixed and deliberate. Africa digs the raw material, ships it out cheap, and buys back the finished product at a premium set somewhere else. Now its time to refuse such an arrangement. The African Union (AU) should take a lead in the deliberations to reach an understanding and a pact that no raw mineral should leave African shores.The rule is to process in Africa, keep value in Africa and keep the profits in Africa.

Conclusion.
Breaking that old age colonial arrangement is the major difference between being a mine for the world and being a continent that owns what it makes. Africa should and ought to end the dangerous pattern of shipping rocks and buying back jewelry. Exporting value and importing poverty patterns. Mine and refine approach is the way towards African development. Benefits of such an approach to Africa are immense and innumerable. Refined materials means higher export prices, technical jobs, skills not just pits.It cuts on smuggling, leakage and above all gives a nation sovereign control over its own resource - "resource sovereignty". Of course, practical challenges do exist: corruption, inadequate infrastructure among many others but there need to be overcome for the sake of Africa to also benefit from its mineral wealth. Ethiopia has taken the right path, a path to construct and refine its gold, the rest of Africa should also take the same path.... the best time to do so was yesterday, but the second best time to do so, is now.

6. Madondo (African Teacher) fortmada123@gmail.com

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