Africa – the world’s second-largest gold-producing region after China – is seeing a marked increase in gold mining investment in 2025. Driven by strong global demand, favorable prices and vast untapped reserves, international financiers are stepping up support for gold projects across the continent. In June, Canadian firm Asante Gold secured a $470 million financing package from Appian Capital and South Africa’s FirstRand Bank to expand the Chirano Mine and advance the Bibiani Project in Ghana – Africa’s leading gold producer and the sixth largest globally.
Against this backdrop of rising investor appetite, African Mining Week (AMW) 2025, taking place in Cape Town from October 1–3, will feature a dedicated Gold Summit. The Summit will showcase priority gold projects, host high-level discussions and serve as a critical deal-making platform for financiers, mining companies and policymakers, aiming to bridge Africa’s gold opportunities with global capital.
Several major funding announcements in recent months highlight growing momentum: In June, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa extended a $35 million loan to Theta Gold Mines for its $77 million Transvaal Gold Mining Estate in Mpumalanga, South Africa. In May, Africa Finance Corporation provided a €100 million loan to Portuguese firm Mota–Engil Africa to support gold mining infrastructure in Ivory Coast and Mali. Around the same time, China’s Zijin Mining launched a gold streaming initiative to raise $200–400 million in FDI for African gold assets – starting with a $125 million investment in Montage Gold’s Koné Project in Ivory Coast.
Perseus Mining of Australia also made strides in 2025, approving a $124.6 million FID for the Yaouré Underground Mine in Ivory COast and committing $523 million to the Nyanzaga Gold Project in Tanzania. Meanwhile, UAE-based Ambrosia Investment Holding invested $375 million in Allied Gold’s expansion in Ethiopia and Mali, acquiring a 50% stake in the process.
These funding rounds reflect rising confidence in the future of African gold and the sector’s role in the global supply chain. They also underscore the importance of expanding local refining, beneficiation and export capabilities. As investment flows increase, so too does the urgency to build resilient infrastructure, strengthen regulatory frameworks and ensure that host communities benefit from long-term economic gains.
At AMW 2025, discussions will address gold-sector financing, investment incentives and strategies for enhancing local value addition. Held under the theme, “From Extraction to Beneficiation: Unlocking Africa’s Mineral Wealth,” the event brings together African stakeholders and global partners to shape the next chapter in the continent’s gold mining journey.
Africa Fact: Yoruba metal art of the mediaeval period was of world class. One scholar wrote that Yoruba art “would stand comparison with anything which Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Rome, or Renaissance Europe had to offer.”
Buzzbait
Bra / Bru – friend. This term is commonly used to call a friend, pal or buddy.
Lounge Master
Van der Merwe goes to Paris to watch the Boks take on the Brits at the world cup.
Whilst in Paris, he walks around, gaping and staring at everything – so much so that he walks smack bang into a fire hydrant which hits him so hard on the family jewels that he has to be rushed to hospital where the doctors tell him they have to remove his testicles.
Van goes berserk, he bites and snarls at every one and he won\’t let anybody within 10 metres of him. Eventually they find a South African doctor in the hospital and get him to talk to Van.
He walks up to Van and tells him \”Hey Van, die ouens moet jou knaters uithaal.\”
Van replies \”O, okay, ek dog die bliksems wil my test tickets vat.\”