
He examines how shifting perspectives are shaping educational curricula and career pathways while emphasizing the need for universities to equip future professionals with advanced technological skills and an innovative mindset.
Francis also highlights strategies for fostering stronger engagement between the mining industry and Africa's youth, including upskilling communities to ensure meaningful participation in the future of mining. Finally, he shares his vision of what future-proofing African mining means today.

A growing number of mineral-producing governments are acquiring assets, activating marketing rights and building institutions that can intervene across the value chain.

Exxaro is set to exit its only offshore asset through a two-step transaction that will see it acquire Anglo American’s remaining stake in the Moranbah South coking coal project before selling the entire asset to Stanmore Resources for $105 million.

Lindian Resources is seeking to build a vertically integrated rare earth supply chain stretching from its Kangankunde project in Malawi through processing facilities in Kazakhstan to downstream markets in Europe, highlighting the increasingly complex geopolitics reshaping critical minerals.