Former Gold Fields (JSE, NYSE: GFI) CEO Chris Griffith has joined a private equity venture seeking to raise $1 billion to invest in African critical minerals, four years after leaving the gold miner following its failed Yamana Gold takeover.

Griffith told online broadcast Investec Minds that plans to retire were shelved after private equity investors approached him to help tap growing interest in Africa’s critical minerals sector.

“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, adding that fundraising was at an early stage.

He is working alongside former Goldman Sachs banker Colin Coleman and former Ashanti Goldfields chair Sam Jonah.

“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 said.

Griffith stepped down as Gold Fields CEO in December 2022 after its $6.7-billion all-share bid for Yamana failed. The deal was intended to lift Gold Fields into the top tier of global gold producers before a rival offer from Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM) and Pan American Silver (TSX, NYSE: PAAS) won out.

Reflecting on the deal, Griffith said gold was trading at about $1,700 per oz. at the time, compared with about $4,300 per oz. today. Gold Fields shares, meanwhile, were trading at about $8.85 in New York compared with roughly $41.25 now.

“We saw the underlying value of those assets joined with Gold Fields was substantially greater than the value that we were paying, including the premium,” Griffith said.

The mining veteran acknowledged, however, that the bid came too early in his tenure at Gold Fields and that the scale of the proposed transaction unsettled shareholders.

Gold Fields has since completed two major acquisitions. In 2024, it t agreed to buy Osisko Mining for $1.6 billion, consolidating ownership of the Windfall gold project in Quebec.

The company also agreed in 2025 to acquire Gold Road Resources in a transaction initially valued at about $2.4 billion, giving it full ownership of the Gruyere gold mine in Western Australia.

Griffith’s next chapter will see him shift his focus from running listed miners to raising private capital for African critical minerals, alongside two of the continent’s best-known mining and finance executives.

The move also follows a two-year stint running Vedanta’s base metals division. Griffith resigned from that role in July 2025.