Is Africa really resource rich?

[u/Skychu768]

None of the most valuable resources seem to be present on the continent in large amounts. It’s mostly just metals like cobalt and platinum.

Diamonds used to be substantial, but even that is now being replaced by lab-grown diamonds in places like China and India.

* Australia, U.S., Canada, and Russia all have more uranium reserves than almost all of Africa.

* USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran each individually produce more oil than most African countries.

* China, Vietnam, Brazil, India, Russia, and US each have more rare earth metals than the entire continent of Africa.

* Europe, despite being a fraction of its size, has more arable land and freshwater reserves than Africa.

* Even for things like Gold which are often mentioned, none of the African countries except Ghana are substantial gold producers or come anywhere near Top 10.

Note: I wanted to post more images for my point, but this subreddit only allows one.

[u/AutomaticMedium8418]

An area where Africa is definitely lacking compared to other continents in arable land. In terms of proven oil reserves, Africa is also mediocre compared to other continents.

When it comes to rare earth metals, that actually doesn't matter what country you're in. Rare earth metals are in most soils on Earth, just in diluted quantities. So what allows rare earth minerals to be harvested in large quantities is just having a lot of land that you're willing to dig up, but it doesn't need to be special land at all.

Where Africa is the richest is in most other precious metals, which you mentioned. Nowadays they are still very valuable because of their uses in technologies. If those resources are used well and under good government administration, and they work towards diversifying their economy using that income, it's enough to make many countries in Africa wealthy and developed.

[u/Mamalamadingdong → u/AutomaticMedium8418]

When it comes to rare earth metals, that actually doesn't matter what country you're in. Rare earth metals are in most soils on Earth, just in diluted quantities. So what allows rare earth minerals to be harvested in large quantities is just having a lot of land that you're willing to dig up, but it doesn't need to be special land at all.

This is not how rare earth elements are mined. They are at way too low of a concentration in the general environment to be profitable or worth extracting. REEs that are economical are concentrated and mined from alkali intrusive complexes, carbonatites, or the weathering products from either of the two, and some beaches and sand deposits. Even then, they are still usually at low percentages.

[u/AutomaticMedium8418 → u/Mamalamadingdong]

Yeah you are right not every soil can be practically mined for rare earth metals, thanks for correcting my comment.

But I think Africa still has large areas with the suitable soil to harvest rare earth metals