Africa is blessed with a rich bounty of natural resources. The continent holds around 30% of the world's known mineral reserves. These include cobalt, uranium, diamonds and gold, as well as significant oil and gas reserves.
Over the period 2000 to 2008 resource extraction contributed more that 30 percent of Africa's GDP, while the annual flow of foreign direct has investment into Africa increased from $9 billion to $62 billion.
Africa has been drawn a little benefit from this mineral wealth and remains one the poorest continents on the globe, with almost fifty per cent of the population living on less than $1.25 per day.
