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Africa Mining

Guinea repossess 51 mining licences, information minister says – by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila(Reuters – May 16, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Guinea’s military government has taken back 51 mining licences as it steps up efforts to repossess claims or concessions where operations have either not been launched or where it says permits are being underutilised, its information minister said.

Reuters first reported that the government planned to cancel the licences on Thursday. Fana Soumah announced in a televised address late Thursday night that Guinea’s military ruler Mamady Doumbouya had signed the repossession decree, which covers bauxite, gold, diamond, graphite and iron concessions.

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The Taliban and Burkina Faso ambassadors pledge new trade and mining cooperation – by Wilson McMakin (Associated Press – May 2025)

https://apnews.com/

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Taliban’s acting ambassador to Iran has met with his Burkina Faso counterpart in the Iranian capital Tehran as part of a broader outreach effort by the West African country to win new trade partners, according to Taliban-controlled media.

During the meeting between acting Ambassador Maulvi Fazl Mohammad Haqqani and Ambassador Mohammad Kabura, both parties pledged to cooperate on trade, mining and vocational training. The Taliban are the de facto rulers of Afghanistan.

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France’s Orano files lawsuit over staff detention in Niger – by Anna Peverieri, Forrest Crellin and Portia Crowe(Reuters – May 13, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

French uranium miner Orano said on Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit with the Niger courts over the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and unjust confiscation of property” involving its staff and assets in the country.

Niger and neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have been stepping up pressure on foreign mining companies over the past year, seizing assets and removing permits as all three Sahel countries look to assert more sovereignty over their natural resources.

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Mercury fuels gold mining in Senegal. And it’s poisoning the people who use it – by Annika Hammerschlag (Seatle Times/Associated Press – May 12, 2025)

https://www.seattletimes.com/

KEDOUGOU, Senegal (AP) — The quickest way to separate gold from rock, Sadio Camara says, is with a drop of mercury. She empties a dime-sized packet of the silvery liquid into a plastic bucket of muddy sediment outside her home in southeastern Senegal. With bare hands and no mask, she swirls the mixture as her children look on.

“I know mercury isn’t good for your health — that’s why I don’t drink the water it comes into contact with,” she said. “I only process small amounts of gold, so there’s no danger.” But even small-scale exposure can carry serious risks. Across West Africa, mercury — a potent neurotoxin — remains the dominant method for extracting gold from ore in the region’s booming informal mining sector, much of it illegal and unregulated.

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Bezos-Backed Firm Signs Deal to Advance Congo Lithium Mine – by Michael J. Kavanagh, James Attwood and William Clowes (Bloomberg News – May 7, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

KoBold Metals Co. has reached a preliminary agreement to move forward with the development of one of the world’s biggest hard rock lithium deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(Bloomberg) — KoBold Metals Co. has reached a preliminary agreement to move forward with the development of one of the world’s biggest hard rock lithium deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The firm, backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, reached a framework agreement with Australia’s AVZ Minerals Ltd. to buy the latter’s stake in project on the Manono deposit, according to a letter signed by KoBold Chief Executive Officer Kurt House and his AVZ counterpart Nigel Ferguson.

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After Ukraine deal, US turns its critical minerals gaze to Africa – by Andy Home (Reuters – May 6, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, – Away from the headlines around the minerals deal with Ukraine, the United States has pursued a potentially even more significant critical metals deal in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo reached out to the Donald Trump administration with a Ukrainian-style proposal in February in response to the rapid advance of the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group in the east of the country.

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Burkina Faso to Nationalise More Industrial Mines in Strategic Shift – by John Zadeh (Discovery Alert – April 29, 2025)

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Burkina Faso’s Mining Nationalization: Strategic Resource Control in West Africa

In a major policy shift reshaping West Africa’s mining landscape, Burkina Faso has embarked on an ambitious nationalization program targeting its lucrative gold mining sector. The military-led government is systematically expanding state control over foreign-owned mines, positioning this resource nationalism as essential for economic sovereignty.

Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo recently confirmed in a televised address that Burkina Faso to nationalise more industrial mines following initial acquisitions from Western mining companies. “The Société de Participation Minière du Burkina has already recovered two industrial mines from private operators, and this process will continue,” he stated, signaling more takeovers on the horizon.

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Gates, Bezos-backed critical minerals explorer to ‘go big’ on Congo – report – by Staff (Mining.com – April 27, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

KoBold Metals, the mining startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is expanding its footprint into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with plans to invest billions into the African nation’s large endowment of resources, the Financial Times reported.

Benjamin Katabuka, the country’s newly appointed director general, told the British newspaper that KoBold is looking to “go big” in the DRC, currently the world’s biggest producer of cobalt and the leading copper producer on the continent.

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U.S. action led to reopening of Toronto-listed company’s tin mine in Congo, Trump adviser says – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Trump administration obtained help from Rwanda to secure a rebel retreat and allow Toronto-listed Alphamin Resources Corp. to reopen a shuttered tin mine in eastern Congo, a U.S. official says.

Massad Boulos, senior Africa adviser to President Donald Trump, said the Rwandan move was a “good faith” gesture in response to U.S. concerns about private mining investments, which he relayed in his eight-day trip to Africa this month.

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Mali shuts Barrick office and issues threats to key mine in tax dispute – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mali’s military junta has closed Barrick Gold Corp.’s national office and threatened to seize control of one of its biggest gold mines in a further escalation of a protracted tax dispute, the Toronto-based company says.

Barrick says it negotiated an agreement with the Malian regime in February to resolve the dispute, but the deal has been blocked by a small group of individuals for “personal or political reasons.” The company’s long-term future in the West African country is now at risk, it said.

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Exclusive-Trump supporter Prince reaches deal with Congo to help secure mineral wealth – by Jessica Donati and Sonia Rolley (Reuters – April 17, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Prominent Trump supporter Erik Prince has agreed to help Democratic Republic of Congo secure and tax its vast mineral wealth, according to two sources close to the private security executive, a Congolese government official and two diplomats.

The agreement, aimed at reaping more revenue from an industry marred by smuggling and corruption, was reached before Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched a major offensive in January that has seen them seize eastern Congo’s two largest cities.

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Just How Badly Does Donald Trump Want Access to Critical Minerals? – by Nicolas Niarchos (New Yorker – April 15, 2025)

https://www.newyorker.com/

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has some of the largest deposits on Earth. Its President wants to sell them—and win a war.

On a recent episode of Fox News’ “Special Report,” the host, Bret Baier, turned his attention to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country that doesn’t frequently make headlines in the United States. Using a map of the country, which is two-thirds the size of Western Europe, to educate his viewers, Baier began by outlining the regional conflicts in which the D.R.C. has been engaged, dating back to the refugee crises triggered by the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

He added that “Congo is considered the world’s richest country in terms of natural resources,” containing untapped supplies worth “an estimated twenty-four trillion dollars, with a ‘T.’ ” Those resources include gold, diamonds, and so-called critical metals, such as cobalt and lithium, which are used in rechargeable batteries.

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OPINION: Nigeria’s Illegal Gold Trade – Elites And Bandits Are Working Together – by Dr Oluwole Ojewale (The Nigerian Voice – April 3, 2025)

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/

Illegal mining activities in Nigeria are devastating the country’s economy, as well as fuelling violence. Strategic minerals mined in the country’s north-west region include granite, gypsum, kaolin, laterite, limestone, phosphate, potash, silica sand and gold.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has estimated that the legal mining sector contributed N814.59 billion (US$527 million) in 15 years. Earnings were highest in 2021.

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The US is negotiating a minerals deal with conflict-hit Congo, a Trump official says – by JEAN-YVES KAMALE and MARK BANCHEREAU (Associated Press – April 3, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A Trump administration official said Thursday the United States is in talks with conflict-plagued Congo on developing its mineral resources under a deal the Congolese president has said could help make his country safer.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos, did not provide details of the potential deal following talks with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, but he said it could involve “multibillion-dollar investments.”

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Sahel juntas drive new era in mineral extraction – by Martina Schwikowski (Deutsche Welle – April 3, 2025)

https://www.dw.com/en/

In Niger, a local company has been granted a license to mine copper. Meanwhile, military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso aim to reduce dependence on foreign mining companies and diversify their economies.

Niger wants to boost its economy and expand its mining industry by mining copper in the Agadez region. The country granted a permit to national firm Compagnie Miniere de l’Air (Cominair SA). “Niger is continuing its programme of diversifying mining production” with a move that “marks its entry into the restricted circle of countries producing this strategic mineral,” according to a statement from Niger’s military government, which took power following a July 2023 coup.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Sahel regional program in neighboring Mali, said the concession is part of Niger’s strategy to reduce its reliance on foreign companies for mineral extraction.

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