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    Chris Griffith’s $1B Africa critical minerals fund: project and capex lens for engineers

    September 23, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Chris Griffith’s $1B Africa critical minerals fund: project and capex lens for engineers

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Former Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith has joined a new private equity team aiming to raise $1 billion for African critical minerals projects, targeting commodities such as cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare earths. He is working with former Goldman Sachs banker Colin Coleman and ex-Ashanti Goldfields chair Sam Jonah, with fundraising still at an early stage and structured as a dedicated Africa-focused vehicle. The move follows Griffith’s exit from Gold Fields after the failed $6.7 billion Yamana bid and a subsequent two-year spell leading Vedanta’s base metals division.

    Technical Brief

    • Fund target is $1 billion of private equity capital dedicated to African critical minerals projects.
    • Griffith confirmed fundraising remains at an “early stage”, implying no first-close capital yet secured.
    • Team composition combines mining and finance: Griffith with Colin Coleman (ex-Goldman Sachs) and Sam Jonah.
    • Commodities in scope explicitly include cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements.
    • Griffith’s move follows his December 2022 exit from Gold Fields after a failed $6.7 billion Yamana bid.
    • At the time of the Yamana attempt, gold traded at about $1,700/oz versus roughly $4,300/oz now.
    • Gold Fields’ New York–listed shares have risen from about $8.85 to roughly $41.25 since that period.
    • Gold Fields has since executed two large M&A deals: Osisko Mining for $1.6 billion and Gold Road for ~$2.4 billion.
    • Those acquisitions consolidated 100% ownership of the Windfall project (Quebec) and the Gruyere mine (Western Australia).

    Our Take

    Gold Fields’ recent US$1.6 billion move on Osisko Mining and the planned US$2.4 billion Gold Road Resources deal show it is doubling down on gold in Canada and Australia, while Griffith’s Africa-focused critical minerals fund would pivot his own strategy towards battery metals and rare earths exposure rather than bullion-heavy portfolios.

    In our database, Gold Fields is already linked to critical minerals through its stake-building in Founders Metals and its exposure to rare earth elements and gallium/germanium, suggesting that an Africa-focused cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel vehicle could become a complementary partner or competitor for similar mixed gold–critical minerals plays.

    Coverage of Gold Fields’ Salares Norte in Chile and weaker output at Gruyere in Western Australia underlines how operational volatility in gold assets can drive investors to seek diversified returns; a pan-African critical minerals fund anchored in copper and cobalt would likely appeal to LPs looking to hedge single-commodity and single-region risk.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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