COMPASS GOLD CORPORATION
Commented by Nico Popp on March 9th, 2026 | 07:50 CET
Africa's hardest currency: New perspectives from Barrick Mining, Compass Gold, and Desert Gold
A noticeable shift is currently taking place in African mining, as mineral resources are increasingly being viewed as the continent's hardest currency. This trend was highlighted at the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February, where the concept of a "Bank of African Settlements" was discussed. The stated goal of this initiative is to establish mineral resources as bankable assets to reduce dependence on volatile fiat currencies such as the US dollar. For many African nations, this is a direct response to the harsh reality that some local currencies have depreciated by as much as 900% against the US dollar over the past two decades. At the same time, market data supports this trend, with foreign central banks' gold reserves exceeding their holdings of US government bonds for the first time since 1996. Combined with growing efforts toward political self-determination and the expansion of reliable infrastructure, this shift is opening up attractive opportunities for investors. In this environment, industry heavyweight Barrick Mining is consolidating its industrial base in Mali, while emerging explorers such as Compass Gold and Desert Gold are actively searching for new deposits.
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