Madagascar's head of state, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, reaffirmed at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi an ambitious goal: to transform Madagascar's natural wealth locally before exporting it. This stance, which aligns with the Nairobi Declaration on the valorisation of African resources, marks a major shift in the country's mining policy.
Two Levers to Drive Local Processing
To deliver on this objective, the government is considering two complementary approaches. The first involves requiring investors to sign contractual commitments to process minerals on Malagasy soil before any export. The second involves revising the mining code to enshrine local processing as a legal obligation.
Existing contracts — including those of Ambatovy, a major nickel-cobalt producer, and QIT Madagascar Minerals (a Rio Tinto subsidiary) — would not be retroactively affected. New rules would apply to future projects, sending a clear signal to any investor currently prospecting in Madagascar.
The Prerequisites for Attractiveness
Economic actors and observers point to several essential conditions if the policy is to actually attract industrialists capable of local processing: a stable legal framework with clear investment rules, reliable and affordable electricity, quality infrastructure (roads, ports), vigorous local skills development, and credible environmental oversight.
These prerequisites correspond precisely to the structural weaknesses most often cited to explain Madagascar's difficulty in converting its vast natural resources into lasting economic wealth.
Why It Matters
Madagascar holds some of the world's largest reserves of nickel, cobalt and graphite — minerals that are strategic to the global energy transition. If the country succeeds in making local processing both mandatory and attractive, it could capture a far greater share of the value of its subsoil, create tens of thousands of industrial jobs, and reduce its dependence on raw material exports. An ambitious gamble, but one consistent with the continental «Made in Africa» trend.