Qatar has thrown its hat into Africa’s minerals race with an eye-watering $100 billion investment plan, setting the stage for a showdown with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and China in the global hunt for resources powering the clean energy transition. The move, unveiled by Sheikh Al Mansour Bin Jabor Bin Jassim Al Thani—a cousin of the Qatari emir—comes after a whirlwind tour of ten African countries earlier this year.
From Lusaka to Kinshasa, the deals sounded big: $19 billion pledged in Zambia, $12 billion in Botswana, $20 billion in Mozambique, $21 billion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and $19 billion in Zimbabwe. Yet beyond the headlines, many are asking: how fast will the money flow, and what strings will be attached?
Qatar’s ambitions took clearer shape on September 17 when its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), revealed a $500 million stake in Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe runs the DRC’s giant Kamoa-Kakula copper mine and has projects stretching from South Africa to Zambia. With copper, zinc, and platinum group metals in its basket, Ivanhoe fits perfectly into Qatar’s strategy to lock down minerals crucial for electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy.
But the story is bigger than one deal. For Qatar, this is part of a shift away from oil and gas dependency. Its National Development Strategy 2024–2030 targets 4 percent growth from non-oil sectors, and Africa’s mineral wealth looks like a natural path. In fact, this isn’t Doha’s first shot—last year it pumped $180 million into TechMet, a US-backed firm with assets in Rwanda.
The African tour mirrored a map of the continent’s mineral goldmines: copper and cobalt in Zambia and the DRC, lithium in Zimbabwe, graphite in Mozambique, and Botswana’s diamonds. These resources are now the backbone of clean energy industries. But there’s a catch—African governments are increasingly demanding local processing and greater domestic participation. Zimbabwe is pushing hard on lithium refining, while Zambia and the DRC are investing in copper smelting.
That means Qatar can’t just write cheques; it will need to build credibility and deliver value for host nations if it hopes to be seen as a serious alternative to China, which still dominates Africa’s critical minerals market.
For now, Qatar’s pledges have captured global attention. The real test will be whether the Gulf state can move from glossy announcements to shovels in the ground—without stumbling in a fiercely competitive and politically complex landscape.
