The most consequential developments in African extractives this week are not discoveries.

They are decisions about what happens after a resource has been found, and specifically about the terms on which the state and the investor divide what it produces.

Mali has issued B2Gold an exploitation permit that unlocks additional ore for the Fekola complex, but issued it under the 2023 Mining Code rather than the 2012 Code governing the existing mine, with a materially different state share.

In Namibia, TotalEnergies has completed the technical work required to sanction Venus and has selected its contractors, but has not concluded the fiscal negotiation that would allow it to commit the capital.

Tanzania has moved a modular LNG distribution venture into a development partnership with a state gas supplier and an African infrastructure investor, ahead of a final investment decision.

And in Erongo, a community has asked for 5% of a gold project in a country where the state already holds 20% of it.

Resource quality attracts capital. The terms on which that capital is permitted to earn a return determine whether it is actually deployed, and who ends up owning the return.