It's a popular myth that 'the race for Africa' around 1880 was triggered by a sort of gold rush. But it wasn't, with the exception of the Belgian Congo that was exploited by a private company owned by the King of Belgium.
The British, who finally would colonize much of East Africa, were first of all out for control of the sea route to India. Only the later Boer War was inspired by the discovery of big gold and diamond reserves in the independent Boer States.
The French were the first to see the posession of a colonial empire in terms of prestige and 'gloire' for France. They did not need to to 'own' the colonies in order to get at any resources; until then, trade agreements with local chiefs had worked just fine. In 1880, the resources we now value - like Nigerian oil - were a thing of the future, as mass demand for oil would only pick up during WW 2, from 1940 onwards.
The other colonizers like Germany and Italy were also mostly prestige-driven. Running their colonies cost them more than they ever got out of them.
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