How an Emirati Upstart is Redrawing Africa’s Mining Map; from Desert to Copper Belt

Three years ago, few in Africa’s mining circles had heard of International Resources Holding (IRH), a little-known investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi. Today, the firm has stormed into the spotlight with two of the continent’s biggest recent mining deals. Moves that highlight both the United Arab Emirates’ growing global ambition and Africa’s enduring centrality in the race for critical minerals.

In March 2024, IRH stunned the industry when it paid $1.1 billion for a 51% stake in Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia, edging out South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater. Just a year later, it struck again, but this time, acquiring 56% of the Bisie tin mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s largest deposits, for $367 million from American private equity firm Denham Capital. For an outfit that barely existed three years ago, the scale of these deals is extraordinary. But they are part of a bigger story. One that spans geopolitics, economics and the shifting balance of power in the global resource trade.

The rise of IRH reflects the UAE’s broader strategy to diversify away from fossil fuels and position itself as a player in the energy transition. As demand for copper, cobalt, tin and lithium surges, driven by demand from the manufacturers of electric vehicles, renewable power and other digital technologies, Abu Dhabi is betting that minerals will be as central to the 21st century as oil was to the 20th. Critical minerals are the new oil. The UAE doesn’t want to be left out of this shift, and IRH is playing a role as part of the sharp end of that strategy.