By: Olivier Bustin - Projects and Finance Partner, Pinsent Masons

Francophone Africa is emerging as a critical pillar of global mineral supply chains. The DRC supplies 70% of global cobalt and Guinea controls 25% of global bauxite. These resources drive the energy transition and reshape geopolitical supply chains. Investor appetite is returning, and with that a shift in the region’s operating environment. Mining codes are being revised, enforcement is more assertive, and host governments are demanding real local value creation and state participation. This is a structural rebalancing of risk and returns between investors and states.

Early and mid-stage projects remain hard to finance. Long development cycles, high capex and sovereign risk continue to deter commercial lenders, while local financing barely exists at scale. For sponsors, this has direct implications. Projects cannot be approached through a purely technical or asset-driven lens. Bankability now depends on the ability to structure around these constraints from the outset, integrating regulatory trajectory, financing strategy and stakeholder alignment into the core project design.

Sponsors who can combine disciplined execution with sophisticated structuring and a clear understanding of how financing, regulation and geopolitics interact in this market, will unlock value.

Local partnerships and building trust

Building trust with African states is essential, particularly given the region’s history with resource extraction and wealth distribution. Market entry depends on the quality of the local anchor, a partner with a real track record.  Good partnerships open doors to formal and informal governance structures.

Assess how they run their business in practice. Talk to their employees. If they stay and speak well about management, it’s an indicator of sound governance. Real partnerships signal genuine commitment to local economic development, rather than extractive intent. Building these partnerships takes time and materially reduces political friction and permitting delays.

Local content and governance as strategy

Local content requirements are expanding, but implementation remains inconsistent, less from bad intent than weak capacity. You can’t satisfy these through compliance frameworks alone. It requires real investment in local ecosystems: education, mentoring, skills development and strengthening private sector capacity. Approach it as strategic governance, not ancillary cost. Environmental permitting, community benefit agreements, and local workforce development commitments confer legitimacy with authorities and reduce arbitrary permitting action. 

Project structure and market entry strategy

Scale must be built gradually. Too many projects fail because sponsors assume mega-projects work. Large projects concentrate risk, demand massive upfront capita and lack flexibility. The Grand Inga hydropower programme in the DRC illustrates both the scale of opportunity and the complexity of execution. While technically sound and strategically important, it has repeatedly encountered delays linked to structuring, risk allocation and financing. Brownfield projects and pilot operations offer a more pragmatic entry point. They enable foreign investors to test assumptions on the ground, develop an understanding of the regulatory landscape, and build relationships with authorities and stakeholders, without the burden of an oversized capital structure.

The Kipushi mine in the DRC, demonstrates this. After two decades of inactivity, it restarted through contained financing structure with offtake arrangements. Built on known geology and existing infrastructure, phased production proved far more manageable than starting green. Performance then demonstrated credibility and resulted in expanding under more favourable financing terms.

Regional integration and cross-border challenges

Cross-border mining corridors across West and Central Africa face persistent structural obstacles. Borders, customs, import duties and government coordination gaps create material friction.

Despite strong political support for regional integration, practical interconnectivity remains nascent.  Mali and Burkina Faso are Africa’s third and fourth largest gold producers while Niger is a leading uranium producer. These export sectors depend on reliable cross-border logistics and predictable transit regimes.In that context, regional integration is a functional requirement for project bankability. For landlocked jurisdictions, cross-border efficiency directly determines cost structure and operational continuity.

Reframing political risk

Political risk insurance has become expensive or unavailable for resource projects globally. This doesn’t mean business in Francophone Africa is impossible. Africa does not have a monopoly on governance problems, and many of the forces that shape them originate beyond the continent.

The question is not whether governance challenges exist, it’s how investors respond. They must not compromise on governance or compliance standards; that is a losing game in the long term. Moralistic postures rarely work and sound unconvincing. What works is disciplined realism. Even in imperfect environments, credible and compliant projects advance when sponsors show sincerity and consistency in their engagement.

In much of Africa, and particularly in Francophone Africa, business is first about people, then projects. Allow time to listen, watch, understand, then build relationships, trust and mutual respect. Excessive urgency breeds poor decisions and compliance risk. Where relationships are handled properly, with trust as the cornerstone, projects move forward. Investors should not confuse weak headline governance metrics with lack of bankability. Sound projects, those that are economically viable, employment generating, revenue producing and supported by strong compliance frameworks, remain investable, provided political realities are assessed with lucidity rather than slogans.

The real differentiator is combining rigorous compliance with sound project structuring and a real understanding of how trust is built and maintained in each host state.