Will Africa's metals boom suffer the same curse as oil?

manganese mining area at the Comilog in Moanda, Gabon

The manganese mining area at the Comilog in Moanda, Gabon on November 27, 2020. PHOTO | STEEVE JORDAN | AFP

Moanda

Mechanical diggers are hard at work in the bleak landscape of the Moanda open-cast mine in Gabon, using giant jaws to rip out manganese and then dump the ore into trucks with a crash.