Africa’s sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are taking on a larger role in financing the continent’s mining sector, as governments seek to unlock more than $8.5 trillion in untapped mineral resources while reducing reliance on volatile foreign capital. 

With combined assets exceeding $164 billion, African SWFs are increasingly being used to support exploration, downstream processing and the formalisation of artisanal mining.

The shift reflects a broader strategy to position SWFs as active development partners rather than passive investors, particularly as geopolitical uncertainty reshapes global investment flows into emerging markets.

In East Africa, Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Investment Holdings, which manages assets of more than $45 billion, is spearheading mining-led industrialisation. 

The fund signed a 2026 agreement with the Ministry of Mines to invest in potash development aimed at boosting fertiliser production, while also partnering with Rusal on a $1 billion aluminium smelter project to strengthen domestic beneficiation capacity.

West African nations are adopting similar approaches.

Senegal’s FONSIS is co-investing in the country’s first gold refinery with Société des Mines du Sénégal to expand local value addition and integrate artisanal miners into formal supply chains.

Guinea is also preparing to launch a sovereign wealth fund in 2026 using revenues from the $20 billion Simandou iron ore project.

In Angola, the Fundo Soberano de Angola is backing the Longonjo rare earth project, expected to supply up to 5 per cent of global magnet metals production.

 Analysts say SWFs could also play a catalytic role in financing large-scale mining ambitions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa.