Building Legal Capacity in the African Mining Sector

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) Project, an Africa-wide initiative with a focus on building specialized legal expertise in mining law, held a nine-day workshop and celebrated its 10th anniversary at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa.
• Since its inception in 2014, the AMLA Workshop has provided training in mining practices, laws and regulations to over 280 law students from all five regions of Africa, featuring balanced gender representation over the years.
• As the World Bank prepares to hand over the leadership of the project to its partner LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, the AMLA Workshop offered an occasion to highlight the importance of knowledge and capacity building initiatives to promote sustainable and equitable growth in mining and other strategic sectors in Africa and beyond.

As demand for transition minerals keeps growing around the world, many resource-rich African countries such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo stand to reap important benefits, provided their mining sectors can facilitate and maintain a sustainable mining ecosystem that promotes equitable growth and broad-based development. The World Bank-led African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) initiative has been working to do just that; helping countries across the African continent establish skilled local capacity in the sector and make sure that their mining operations are built on sound legislative frameworks, so that mining activities and revenues can ultimately create real country-wide opportunities leading to growth and shared prosperity across the continent.

The AMLA Workshop, which took place between December 1-9, 2024 at the University of Pretoria, marked the 10^th anniversary of the project and was also the occasion to reaffirm this objective while recognizing AMLA’s many achievements. Since 2014, the AMLA Workshop has provided training in mining laws and regulations to over 280 young lawyers from all five regions of Africa, and this year’s class brought together 100 participants, including law students from 17 countries and 26 universities (of which 53% were women), program alumni, academic institution representatives, law firms, and mining companies, all of whom came together to create a dynamic knowledge environment to transform ideas into impact throughout the continent’s mining operations.

“Capacity building is an essential piece of the World Bank’s operations in Africa and AMLA is a good example of how capacity building can be used to empower stakeholders to advance transparency and good governance in Africa’s mining sector, especially as the region contends with increased global demands for transition minerals,” said Satu Kahkonen, World Bank Country Director for South Africa, who was present at the AMLA Workshop.

The importance of continued knowledge and capacity building

This year’s AMLA Workshop offered participants informative and dynamic discussions with substantive and practical sessions, and included an engaging visit to a mining operation in the area. It also marked the final training delivered by the World Bank, in cooperation with the African Legal Support Facility, several universities across Africa, as well as law firms, mining companies, and various other global stakeholders, who collaborated for 10 years to deliver expert education on the complexities of mining law and governance. In 2025, the World Bank will transition the leadership of AMLA to the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation.

Teresa Jennings, Vice President and Treasurer of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, confirmed the upcoming transition. “I had the privilege of watching [the World Bank Group and African Legal Support Facility] representatives carry immense flags into the arena … And I watched them work with all of [the law students] not just as trainees, but as future leaders. [This program is a] relay race. We signed [a] Memorandum of Understanding [with the World Bank] to start running and by July [2025] we are going to take up that baton and do it well,” she said.

"When the World Bank Legal Department initiated the AMLA project in 2014, it preceded in many ways the strategic direction described in the Knowledge Compact for Action that we now have at the World Bank. AMLA closely aligns with the Knowledge Compact in emphasizing the importance of knowledge generation, strategic partnerships, and capacity-building to address today’s pressing global challenges … and its partners have fostered an environment where knowledge can be translated into meaningful, actionable solutions. This new partnership with the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation to oversee the AMLA platform is amazing, and I'd like to thank the Foundation for being our partner and making this possible," said Kirsten Propst, Chief Counsel in the Legal Vice Presidency, who on delegation from Christopher Stephens, Senior Vice President and WBG General Counsel, delivered a closing keynote to the participants.

Top photo listing: (from left to right): Boubacar Bocoum, Lead Mining Specialist, World Bank Group (WBG); Nneoma Nwogu, Senior Counsel, WBG; Dr. Nightingale Rukuba-Ngaiza, Senior Counsel, WBG; Kirsten Burghardt Propst, Chief Counsel, WBG; Hulisani Thabela, Director of Tourism, City of Tshwane; Prof. Elsabe Schoeman, Dean of Law, University of Pretoria (UP); Prof. Lorreta Ferris, Vice Principal of Academic, UP; Satu Kahkonen, WBG Country Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini; Marjorie Mpundu, Chief Counsel, WBG; Feyifolu Adeyosola Boroffice, WBG Operations Manager for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini; and Nnewuoghor Okhai-Akhigbe, Senior Legal Counsel, African Legal Support Facility.