By: OrePulse

Chris Griffith, former chief executive of Gold Fields, has joined a private equity venture seeking to raise $1 billion to invest in African critical minerals, adding a high-profile mining executive to the fundraising effort.

"I was contacted by a private equity team that is starting up. So, I'm part of a private equity team now, seeking to raise a billion dollars to invest in African critical minerals," Griffith said. "We've put this team together, and I'm spending quite a lot of time at the moment helping to set up this private equity business."

Griffith is working alongside Colin Coleman, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and Sam Jonah, the former chairman of Ashanti Goldfields, on the new venture. The fund is still in the early stages of raising capital toward its $1 billion target, and it has not publicly disclosed any interim fundraising milestones.

Griffith stepped down as chief executive of Gold Fields in December 2022, shortly after the company's roughly $6.7 billion all-share bid to acquire Canada's Yamana Gold collapsed. He then spent two years running the base metals division at Vedanta Resources, resigning in July 2025.

Looking back at the period since the failed Yamana transaction, Griffith noted that gold has climbed from around $1,700 an ounce to roughly $4,300 an ounce, while Gold Fields' own share price has risen from about 150 rand to 682 rand over the same stretch.

The new fund's focus on critical minerals, rather than gold specifically, reflects a broader shift in capital-raising activity across the mining sector, as investors chase exposure to the metals used in batteries, electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure, an area where Africa has drawn growing interest from both private capital and government-backed financing.

A dedicated vehicle backed by executives with deep operating experience across South African and pan-African mining, in Griffith's case, and finance, through Coleman's investment banking background and Jonah's leadership of Ashanti Goldfields, could give the fund credibility with both institutional investors and African governments as it seeks to deploy capital.

Griffith's move also reflects a wider trend of veteran mining executives pivoting from operating roles into private equity and fund management as they look to capture the current wave of investor interest in critical minerals, rather than returning to run established, publicly listed producers.

The involvement of a high-profile executive with Griffith's operating track record signals a growing appetite among private capital providers for dedicated exposure to Africa's critical-minerals sector, rather than broader diversified mining or precious-metals funds.

Griffith did not say when the fund expects to hold a first close or begin deploying capital, and the venture has not yet been given a formal, publicly disclosed name.