John Childs is Lecturer in International Development and Natural Resources at Lancaster University. He is particularly interested in the political ecological dimensions of natural resource extraction, including the study of minerals, precious metals, oil and gas.

  • Is Africa’s ‘resource nationalism’ just big business as usual?

    Big mining firms in the Democratic Republic of Congo are worried. For the past decade they’ve made good money from the country’s huge reserves of cobalt, diamonds, gold and copper, and now the government wants to grab more of the action: a document leaked to Bloomberg reveals plans to raise royalties and profit taxes, and increase the state’s share in any new ventures.