AFRICA:  A Continent “Making others Rich”

This blog is indeed a continuation to my previous post “Africa the Spectator”. This post gives us more insights with approximate numbers of the gigantic wealth (Minerals Resources) Africa possesses.  Not only that, but also how much of gadgets of everyday life depend on resources from Africa and indeed we can say “How Africa’s Minerals fuel the world”. With all those fantastic resources, one would expect that folks living in Africa would have outrun Europe a thousand years ago and should had colonized Mars by this time. Not only west, but now from their lessons China and other Asian countries started extracting rich mineral resources in whatever way possible from the continent.

“Africa: The richest and the poorest Continent, Rich in terms of natural resources, poor in terms of life standards. Practically speaking from Laptops to cellular phone, cars to airplanes, all kinds of everyday items are made using minerals that come from Africa. Let’s get into some details

•   Catalytic converters are fitted to cars to reduce pollution, and platinum and rhodium are key components. Africa produces most of the world’s platinum and Rhodium for this purpose. In 2012, South Africa produced 128 tonnes of platinum, 170 tonnes of Gold, 8.2 million carats of diamonds and 255 million tonnes of coal.
•  Cellular Phones, laptops and other small electronic devices use parts made from Tantalum. Africa produces approx. 70% of World’s Tantalum in which Mozambique produces 24%, Democratic Republic of Congo 11%, Rwanda 20%, Ethiopia 9% and other African countries contribute 7%.
•  Rechargeable batteries often use cobalt in their electrodes and demand for portable electronic devices has created a huge market for the mineral. Here Africa accounts for 58% of the world’s cobalt

With all these, a simple Question that keeps pestering me, If Africa is so rich in resources, why are millions of its people living and dying in poverty?

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