In his first book, The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world's reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world's population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other emerging markets” have transformed their economies, Africa's resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. The result is a blistering investigation that throws a completely fresh light on the workings of the global economy and will make you think twice about what goes into the mobile phone in your pocket and the tank of your car.The trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. Combining deep reporting with an action-packed narrative, he travels to the heart of Africa's resource states, meeting a warlord in Nigeria's oil-soaked Niger Delta and crossing a warzone to reach a remote mineral mine in eastern Congo. For six years Tom Burgis has been on a mission to expose corruption and give voice to the millions of Africans who suffer the consequences of living under this curse. But, like its victims, the beneficiaries of this looting machine have names. In country after country across the continent, the resource industry is tearing at the very fabric of society. What is happening in Africa's resource states is systematic looting. But in the shadows a network of traders, bankers and corporate raiders has sprung up to grease the palms of venal local political elites. Africa's booming growth is driven by the voracious hunger for natural resources from rapidly emerging economics such as China. 'The Looting Machine' takes you on a gripping and shocking journey through anonymous boardrooms and glittering headquarters to expose a new form of financialized colonialism. But far from being a salvation, this buried treasure has been a curse. A third of the earth's mineral deposits lie beneath its soil.

While accounting for just 2 percent of global GDP, it is home to 15 per cent of the planet's crude oil, 40 per cent of its gold and 80 per cent of its platinum. Africa: the world's poorest continent and, arguably, its richest. Overseas Press Club Award Winner 2016 A shocking investigative journey into the way the resource trade wreaks havoc on Africa, 'The Looting Machine' explores the dark underbelly of the global economy.

The looting machine by tom burgis