By Mohamed AG Ahmedou, via MondAfrique: Mali’s strategic resources are a formidable source of enrichment for Beijing, while leaving Bamako drained.

On September 10, the African Union unveiled a draft declaration aimed at bringing together countries that produce critical minerals—cobalt, lithium, graphite, uranium—into a coalition capable of defending their collective interests against major powers. But in Mali, as in other sub-Saharan African countries, the reality is very different: resources evaporate, profits fly away, and local populations remain the great forgotten ones in this global rush for strategic metals.

The Bougouni mine: a symbol of extraction without added value

In southern Mali, the Bougouni mine starkly illustrates the paradox. The site, 65 percent controlled by the joint venture Kodal Minerals (United Kingdom) and Hainan Mining (China), is presented by authorities as a potential windfall for the national economy. Yet the agreement stipulates that all lithium production will be exported exclusively to China for refining and processing, for at least four years.

In plain terms: no local processing, no national industrial chain, no technology transfer. Mali, sitting on a strategic resource at the center of the global energy transition, is reduced to selling off raw material at a discount—material whose value multiplies once integrated into batteries, electric vehicles, or aeronautics.

“This model is a copy-and-paste of the old colonial scheme: extraction in Africa, processing elsewhere, profits captured outside the continent,” denounces a Malian economist based in Bamako.

Beijing: 65 cooperation agreements in Africa

According to a report by the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) published in early 2025, China has signed the majority of the 65 mining cooperation agreements concluded in recent years in Africa in the field of critical minerals. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it corners cobalt; in Guinea, bauxite; in Zimbabwe and Mali, lithium.

The strategy is clear: secure supplies for its own downstream industries, without concern for local development. Chinese companies even import their own labor, bypassing the employment of local workers and reducing the economic benefits for nearby communities to almost nothing.

Mali: weak link in the global rush

In a context of political and security crisis, Bamako appears as easy prey. The ruling military junta, diplomatically isolated, is desperately seeking financial partners. Beijing advances its agenda with formidable efficiency, offering quick financing, credit-based infrastructure, and unequal mining partnerships.

“China knows that the Malian state, weakened and lacking legitimacy, does not have the capacity to negotiate on equal terms. It exploits institutional weakness to lock in contracts that deprive the country of any room to maneuver,” notes a mining policy researcher in Dakar.

An African coalition: a mirage for Bamako?

The African Union’s initiative to create a coalition of African producers of critical metals could, in theory, change the situation. It would allow countries to set prices jointly, harmonize contract terms, develop a local processing strategy, and limit extractive dumping.

But in practice, Mali illustrates the difficulty of achieving this ambition. Lacking an industrial vision and already bound by bilateral agreements, the country is locked into growing dependency. The lithium of Bougouni could be a historic opportunity to lay the foundations of a Malian refining industry and the manufacturing of electrical components. Instead, it feeds directly into Chinese value chains, leaving behind a devastated landscape and dispossessed communities.

A future under mining tutelage

History seems to repeat itself: after gold, whose exploitation enriched only a few local elites and foreign partners, lithium risks the same fate. The sovereignty rhetoric of Bamako, often repeated by the ruling military, collides here with a harsh reality: Mali exercises no real control over its strategic resources.

“As long as the country remains trapped in this rentier model of raw extraction, it will remain on the periphery of the global economy, a mere supplier of raw materials for industrial powers,” summarizes a Nigerien analyst.

The coalition promised by the African Union could provide a collective rebound. But for Mali, it would require breaking with the opacity of mining contracts, demanding local processing, and placing citizens’ interests at the center of economic choices. Otherwise, Bougouni will become just another name on Mali’s long list of missed historical opportunities.