By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider

The Continental Extractive Industries Programme (CEIP) is a pan-African initiative which serves as a flagship for the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and is designed to reposition Africa’s Mining Sector from high risk fragmented value chains.

The CEIP is aligned with the African Mining Vision (AMV) and supported by the African Mineral and Energy Resources Classification (AMREC) approaches in order to project classification, traceability and governance so that investors are able to finance assets with reliable data, standards and readiness of delivery.

Resources that will be mobilised will make up to $121.9 million as the CEIP aims to target scalable capital architecture and will be divided as follows; in the first year $20m will go towards technical assistance, ESG systems and institutional strengthening; in years 2-5 will have $60m in order to finance vetted ASMEs and pipeline projects, and then a five year implementation programme will be budgeted at $41.9 million in order to create the institutional foundation for delivery, monitoring, and investor confidence.

The capital will be provided through entities such as Grants/TA, long-term debt, revolving working capital, equity/mezzanine, first loss guarantees, and results-based financing which will be linked to ESG and employment outcomes.

 At its core the CEIP will be the Finance Warehouse Facility, which is a development bank designed to function as a mechanism for funding and de-risking ASME growth as well as building a new generation of investment-ready mining portfolio companies.

 The Finance Warehouse Facility also combines green capital, and fit-for-purpose products such invoice finance and revolving credit lines. The programme reduces project risk through PPP structuring and transaction advisory, and is advancing industrialisation hubs with renewable energy.