ACE Comms TeamThe Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) program’s 10th anniversary celebrations in April 2025, offered a space for deep reflection, collaboration, and future-focused dialogue in its breakout sessions. The mining session, moderated by Xavier Michel reflected on forward-thinking strategies towards environmental sustainability. The ACE program centers across West, East, and Southern Africa shared their unique perspectives on responsible mining and sustainable environmental practices, highlighting their individual and collective contributions to responsible mining. Additionally, participants at this session deliberated on burgeoning environmental, social, and governance challenges that bedevil Africa’s mining ecosystem, and charted a clear vision toward its sustainability.
Six ACEs—CEFORGRIS from Burkina Faso, CEMS from Côte d’Ivoire, EMIG from Niger, CEA-MEM from Senegal, CS-OGET from Ethiopia, and ACESM from Zambia—participated in this session. These centers, located in Africa’s mineral-rich corridors, have become beacons of research excellence and innovation in mining and extractive sciences.
With the overarching theme focused on responsible mining and its contribution to a sustainable environment, the session was a dynamic space for shared learning. Discussions revolved around four interrelated pillars: student and faculty development; advancing research, translating research into industry and policy impact; and partnerships and sustainability. Each centre presented compelling narratives that painted a rich tapestry of institutional progress grounded in real-world challenges and triumphs.
On student and faculty development, leaders of the various centers emphasized efforts to enhance academic programs in mining, increase postgraduate enrolments, and foster faculty development through international mobility and mentoring of early-career mining and environment researchers. Initiatives profiled included curriculum modernization, faculty exchange programs, and targeted recruitment to promote diversity and inclusion in mining education. EMIG shared its targeted efforts to attract more women into mining-related programs, while ACESM highlighted its industry-linked PhD training model that embeds students within mining companies for hands-on practical experience and on-the-job training.
When it came to advancing research, centres celebrated milestones in cutting-edge work on mineral recovery technologies, environmental impact assessments, and mine safety innovations. CEA-MEM’s work on sustainable artisanal mining techniques stood out as a model of locally responsive research with global relevance.
One of the most inspiring moments was the accounts of research translation into policy and industry impact. CS-OGET detailed its collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines to shape regulatory reforms, while CEMS illustrated how its geotechnical research was informing mining protocols in Francophone West Africa. These stories underscored growth among the ACE centers in closing the gap between academic inquiry and real-world impact.
In the discussions on partnerships and sustainability, centre leaders spoke candidly about the evolving nature of funding, the need for diversified income streams, and the critical role of long-term partnerships with industry, government, and international collaborators. CEFOGRIS shared a strategy of embedding its alumni into key public agencies to drive future collaboration from within.
Moving forward, future focus areas identified included critical minerals research, climate-smart mining practices, and digitization and automation of mining processes. Centre leaders called for enabling conditions such as enhanced infrastructure, stronger regional collaboration frameworks, and increased policy alignment with academic outputs.
The session concluded with a collective commitment to advancing responsible mining practices that align with sustainable development goals. The moderator, Xavier Michel in his closing remarks, noted that the shared experiences and forward-looking strategies reflected the ACE program’s core ethos: centres of excellence rooted in local realities, producing knowledge for global good.
The insights from the Mining Breakout Session, later shared during the plenary on the event’s third day, reinforced a compelling truth: Africa’s path to responsible and sustainable mining is already being paved by the Centres of Excellence program through science, partnerships, and the unrelenting dedication of its researchers and educators.
As the ACE initiative steps into its next decade, these mining-focused centres stand poised to lead Africa into a new era, where the continent’s rich natural resources are harnessed not just for economic gain but for environmental stewardship, social inclusion, and sustainable development.