The International Risk Podcast

Episode 303: Traceability of Critical Raw Material with Romane Dideberg

• Season 5 • Episode 303

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This episode with Romane Dideberg explores responsible mineral sourcing in the context of rising geopolitical risk, with a focus on the Sahel. We examine how insecurity, military coups, and shifting alliances are reshaping control over critical minerals, driving resource nationalism, and complicating governance in fragile and conflict-affected states. Moreover, we also look at corruption, the role of civil society, and the realities of artisanal and small-scale mining. We unpack what traceability can, and cannot, achieve in mineral supply chains, and why responsible sourcing must go beyond tick-box compliance to genuinely improve governance, livelihoods, and long-term stability.

Romane Dideberg is a researcher at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. She works within the institute’s Africa Programme, engaging with policymakers, researchers, private sector, and international organisations on key policy challenges across the African continent. Her research focuses on peace and security dynamics and political developments in West Africa and the Sahel, the Lake Chad Basin, and the Great Lakes region. Her areas of expertise include the political economy of conflict, resource governance, extractive industries, African statehood, and state–society relations. Before joining Chatham House, she worked at LSE IDEAS, the London School of Economics’ foreign policy think tank.

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Romane Dideberg: It’s important to recognize that responsible sourcing of minerals doesn’t only concern artisanal and small-scale mining. Large-scale, industrial mining also plays a significant role in this story, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Traceability is only a tool; it is not a substitute for ongoing, proactive due diligence by businesses.

Elisa Garbil: Welcome back to the International Risk Podcast, where we discuss the latest world news and significant events that impact businesses and organizations worldwide.

Dominic Bowen: Today’s episode is sponsored by Conductor, winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation in 2021. Conductor builds fully customizable crisis management exercises, from cyberattacks to multilayered geopolitical incidents, using simulated emails, websites, social media, and team-style channels so crisis teams can train against the risks their company is most likely to face.

Geopolitical shifts in the Sahel, great-power influence, and the scramble for critical minerals are reshaping international risk, and many business leaders and policy advisors still don’t fully grasp what this means. I’m Dominic Bowen, and today on the International Risk Podcast I’m joined by Romane Dideberg, a research assistant with the Africa Programme at Chatham House. Her work focuses on Francophone West Africa, the Sahel, and the Great Lakes region.

Romane, welcome to the podcast.

Romane Dideberg: Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure.

Dominic Bowen: It’s great to have you here. Where are you joining us from today?

Romane Dideberg: I’m joining from London.

Dominic Bowen: Nice and cold at this time of year, I imagine.

Romane Dideberg: Very much so.

Dominic Bowen: Let’s start with the big picture. When you look across Francophone West Africa and the Sahel today, what are the top risks that outsiders tend to underestimate or misunderstand?

Romane Dideberg: In the Sahel specifically, analysts are increasingly concerned about the escalation of violence and the economic asphyxiation of capital cities. There is a real risk of instability spreading across the whole of West Africa. One issue that is often misunderstood is the motivation of non-state armed groups. Some observers equate the situation to Afghanistan and the Taliban, but the dynamics are different. Misunderstanding the security threat can lead to the wrong security responses, as we’ve seen in the past. There is also a strong risk of contagion, with economic repercussions for coastal West African states that have so far been less affected by non-state armed groups, including those affiliated with Islamic State.

Dominic Bowen: Since 2020 we’ve seen a wave of military takeovers in what’s often called the coup belt, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Chad, Sudan, and Gabon. Many of these states sit on or near key deposits of uranium, gold, lithium, and other strategic minerals. How have recent coups and the reshaping of alliances changed the regional landscape?

Romane Dideberg: Minerals and the global scramble for them are reshaping power balances across the region. Control over resources can translate into political leverage. The juntas that came to power after these coups have tried to use mineral resources as a means of asserting control, particularly over territories where they are losing influence. In Mali, insecurity has expanded into mineral-rich regions that were previously unaffected. We also see resource nationalism, with licenses revoked overnight and traditional partners pushed out. Mining has become central to the reshaping of geopolitical power and regional equilibrium.

Dominic Bowen: How are these coups reshaping alliances, especially as some governments turn away from traditional partners?

Romane Dideberg: The problem isn’t cooperation with new partners per se. Russia, for example, has also struggled to curb insecurity in the Sahel and has followed similar pitfalls, including committing atrocities against civilians. The real danger lies in the breakdown of regional cooperation at a time when insecurity is spreading to coastal states. We need more cooperation, not less. The breakaway from regional blocs and the growing mistrust between Sahelian states and coastal West African countries undermines intelligence sharing and collective security. Niger’s withdrawal from the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Basin is a good example. These threats are inherently transnational and do not stop at borders.

Dominic Bowen: You’ve focused a lot on the political economy of conflict. Can you give us an example of how control over resources has shaped violence, and what this means for external actors?

Romane Dideberg: There are many examples where commodities have fueled conflict, but it’s important not to oversimplify. In eastern DRC, the conflict is often reduced to a story about minerals for smartphones, but the dynamics are more complex and predate the surge in demand for tin, tungsten, and gold. Minerals do fuel armed groups and must be addressed to build durable peace, but they are not the sole cause. Another clear example is Sudan, where gold has been central to sustaining the conflict. Both sides have built economic power by seizing gold mines, controlling supply chains, and smuggling gold through hubs such as the UAE. Businesses engaging in global commodity markets need to be mindful of the role minerals can play in sustaining conflict.

Dominic Bowen: Many people talk about fragile or failed states. What do outsiders misunderstand about how states actually function in places like Mali, Niger, or the DRC?

Romane Dideberg: The reality of statehood in many African contexts is very different from elsewhere. There is often a large gap between the center and the periphery. For many rural citizens, the state is an abstract concept rather than a lived reality. In some cases, state armed forces are perceived as just as threatening as non-state armed groups. This reflects a weak social contract and, at times, a lack of legitimacy. External actors need to be cautious about whom they partner with, as some security interventions have propped up regimes that worsen conflict dynamics rather than resolve them.

Dominic Bowen: Africa has vast geological potential, yet governance challenges and limited local value addition persist. Why do these problems remain?

Romane Dideberg: Conflict minerals are often imagined as a warlord with a rifle intimidating a mining community, but that’s only part of the story. Large-scale industrial mining can also be a major source of corruption, with revenues escaping jurisdictions and little local beneficiation. Responsible sourcing is not just about artisanal mining beyond state reach; it’s also about fairly regulating large-scale mining companies and limiting corruption.

Dominic Bowen: What about corruption more broadly? How can countries break this cycle?

Romane Dideberg: Corruption doesn’t happen in isolation. It requires partners outside the country. Supporting local civil society is key, particularly groups that scrutinize mining codes and contracts. There is a growing realization across Africa that the continent’s critical minerals provide leverage in a world pursuing green transitions and digitalization. This could lead to fairer contracts and more beneficiation, but change is incremental and context-specific.

Dominic Bowen: If you were advising the board of a multinational company considering long-term investments in critical minerals or infrastructure, what risks should they focus on?

Romane Dideberg: Risks vary by geography and mineral, and there is no single African mining industry. Companies must consider ESG and conflict risks and engage with due diligence mechanisms, including traceability, while understanding their limitations.

Dominic Bowen: Traceability comes up a lot. What can it realistically achieve?

Romane Dideberg: Traceability is not a panacea. It is a tool to gain visibility over supply chains and improve market transparency, not a substitute for due diligence. It can provide information on origin and chain of custody, from extraction through trading, refining, and manufacturing. However, it remains complex and unevenly implemented across minerals and regions. Businesses should engage with traceability critically and not treat it as a tick-box exercise.

Dominic Bowen: What about artisanal and small-scale miners, who support millions of livelihoods but often operate informally?

Romane Dideberg: Artisanal and small-scale mining is here to stay and continues to expand, driven by livelihood needs. Around 10 million people engage in artisanal mining in Africa, supporting many more in surrounding communities. Globally, about 45 million people are artisanal miners, with hundreds of millions dependent on them. Some critical minerals, such as tantalum, cobalt, tin, and increasingly lithium, rely heavily on artisanal production. Responsible sourcing efforts must not exclude these miners or push them into illicit markets. Successful initiatives combine traceability with broader formalization, health and safety measures, reduced environmental harm, market access, and sometimes guaranteed prices. The challenge is scaling these approaches in fragmented and insecure contexts, especially where state control is limited.

Dominic Bowen: You’ve warned about the risks of disinvestment in difficult areas. Can you explain?

Romane Dideberg: Blanket divestment can be harmful. For example, the Dodd-Frank Act’s conflict minerals provisions led many companies to boycott eastern DRC, which had devastating impacts on local livelihoods. Engagement, not withdrawal, is essential, but it must be done carefully to avoid pushing production into illicit channels.

Dominic Bowen: Are there any key takeaways you’d like listeners to remember?

Romane Dideberg: It’s important not to demonize artisanal mining, which is a livelihood for millions. Responsible sourcing must address both artisanal and large-scale mining. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and traceability is only a tool, not an end in itself. It should not become a way to give consumers in wealthy countries a clear conscience without improving conditions on the ground. We also need to be cautious about geopoliticizing traceability and treating it as a silver bullet for conflict resolution.

Dominic Bowen: Finally, when you look at the world today, what international risks concern you most?

Romane Dideberg: The regional contagion of instability. Conflicts are increasingly transnational, with cross-border commodity flows sustaining violence. Conflict remains one of the biggest global risks.

Dominic Bowen: Romane, thank you very much for joining us on the International Risk Podcast.

Romane Dideberg: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.

Dominic Bowen: That was a fascinating conversation with Romane Dideberg from Chatham House. Please remember to subscribe to the International Risk Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Today’s episode was produced by Alyssa Garel, with multimedia editing by Stephen Penney. I’m Dominic Bowen. Thanks for listening, and we’ll speak again soon.

Dominic Bowen: Thanks very much for listening to the International Risk Podcast. We’ll speak again in the next couple of days.

This episode was sponsored by Conductor, the crisis exercise platform that turns crisis plans into lived experiences with tailored scenarios, decision logs, and realistic social media and news feeds. Conductor helps organizations learn from their mistakes in a simulation, not during a real crisis. Visit the Conductor website to learn more about their services and products.

Elisa Garbil: Thank you for listening to this episode of the International Risk Podcast. For more episodes and articles, visit internationalriskpodcast.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, BlueSky, and Instagram for the latest updates, and to ask your questions to our host, Dominic Bowen. See you next time.