Africa Mining – Page 14 – Republic of Mining

Police say miners from a rival union are holding hundreds of colleagues underground in South Africa – by Gerald Imray and Mogomotsi Magome (Associated Press – October 24, 2023)

October 24, 2023

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A group of miners from an unregistered, rival union are holding hundreds of their colleagues underground for a second day at a gold mine in South Africa over a union dispute, police and mine officials said Tuesday. Some 15 miners have been injured in scuffles, the head of the mine said.

Details were sketchy and there were conflicting statements over what happened, with the unregistered union asserting it represents the majority of employees at the mine and it wants to be formally recognized. It said the workers underground were staging a protest and there was no hostage situation.

Bleak outlook for France as mining interests in Africa suffocate – by Alix Bouheddi (Mining Review Africa – October 2023)

October 20, 2023

https://www.miningreview.com/

For over a century, starting with colonial domination, and persisting via its political and economic network, France viewed most of Africa as its geopolitical sphere of influence.

African governments were installed and deposed upon instruction from Paris, whether by the actions of the intelligence services or military intervention. Meanwhile, French companies controlled extensive domains in African economies, often dedicated to the extraction and transport of natural resources for Western industries.

Canada should be prepared to scrutinize African copper mine sale, mining veteran says – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – October 18, 2023)

October 18, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A veteran of Canada’s mining industry is warning Ottawa should be prepared to scrutinize the sale of a massive African copper mine with an ownership structure that includes a company incorporated in British Columbia. The Khoemacau copper mine in Botswana is valued at as much as US$2-billion. As many as three Chinese companies with state ties or owners are reportedly in the running to bid for the copper deposit.

Khoemacau Copper Mining is wholly owned by Cuprous Capital Ltd., which has its registered office in Vancouver and was incorporated in B.C. in 2012. Cuprous, in turn, is 88.1 per cent owned by U.S. private equity firm Cupric Canyon Capital LP, a company majority owned by funds managed by London-based Global Natural Resources Investments, and 11.9 per cent by Resource Capital Fund VII LP.

Centamin unveils new mine plan for Sukari targeting over 500,000 oz. gold per year – by Staff (Mining.com – October 12, 2023)

October 12, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Egypt-focused Centamin (LSE: CEY) (TSX: CEE) has published a new, more ambitious plan for the Sukari gold mine.

According to the company, the new mine plan will push production to an average 506,000 oz. per year at all-in sustaining costs below $1,000 per ounce, for the next nine years and contribute to a 5% increase in total gold production over the mine’s 11-year life.

US Steps Up Efforts to Access Africa’s Critical Minerals – by Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg News – October 12, 2023)

October 12, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The US is stepping up efforts to boost ties with African nations rich in critical minerals to help secure supply, according to a government official.

Workshops recently held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, and Kinshasa in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo brought in US experts with the ultimate goal of setting up local battery manufacturing operations, Kimberly Harrington, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Energy Resources, said at a conference in Cape Town on Thursday.

How the wheels came off for SA’s platinum group metal miners – by David McKay (MiningMX – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

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We didn’t see it coming” are not the words investors typically want to hear. But it was a refreshingly honest take from Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne, when asked about the decline in platinum group metal (PGM) prices that led to his company calling off its 18-month pursuit of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

Tearing up the tarmac one day, wheel-less the next. So often that’s the story of commodities. But in PGMs — a niche, yet critically important family of metals that supply the global car industry — the past three years have been quite the ride. To be clear, Dunne’s dismay wasn’t about a market correction. That much was anticipated — rather, it was the speed and extent of that correction.

A recent report on DRC’s Kolwezi shows the cobalt capital’s dark side – by Chinedu Okafor (Business Insider Africa – September 26, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://africa.businessinsider.com/

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kolwezi town earned the moniker “cobalt capital of the world” due to its abundance of the material. One of the reasons the DRC contains over half of the world’s cobalt deposits and is responsible for 70% of worldwide production is the town in the country’s southern Lualaba Province.

In terms of copper deposits, the DRC ranks seventh in the world. According to the IEA, cobalt is a crucial mineral in most lithium-ion batteries, a key component in the energy transitions the world is moving toward, while copper is the mineral most frequently utilized in “clean energy” technologies.

Former Yamana Gold head Peter Marrone turns his eye to Africa – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 16, 2023)

September 18, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Peter Marrone, former Yamana Gold Inc. executive chairman, is back at the helm of a Canadian precious-metals producer after putting US$30-million of his own money into Africa-focused Allied Gold Corp.

Allied went public earlier this week on the Toronto Stock Exchange after a reverse takeover and a US$267-million private placement financing anchored by Mr. Marrone and four other former members of Yamana’s management team.

Research group established to investigate gold trade violence in Africa – by Florence Jones (Mining Technology – September 18, 2023)

September 18, 2023

https://www.mining-technology.com/

The Blood Gold Report will explore the extent to which Africa’s gold trade is funding Russian violence.

International researchers and human rights activists have established a joint investigation into the role western mining companies play in funding violence in Africa’s gold trade.

The Blood Gold Report research programme will explore deals between western mining companies, authoritarian African governments and Russian mercenaries including the paramilitary organisation, the Wagner Group. The research will initially focus on Mali, a resource-rich nation where the ruling junta is currently propped up by Russian mercenaries.

Congo communities forcibly uprooted to make way for mines critical to EVs, Amnesty report says – by Taiwo Adebayo (Associated Press – September 12, 2023)

September 18, 2023

https://apnews.com/

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The mining of minerals critical to electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies in Congo has led to human rights abuses, including forced evictions and physical assault, according to a new report from Amnesty International and another rights group.

Congo is by far the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, and it is also Africa’s top producer of copper, which is used in EVs, renewable energy systems and more.

Former Yamana head Peter Marrone eyes emerging nations for next big venture in gold – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 12, 2023)

September 13, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Shift to non-traditional mining locations required to give investors the high returns they expect, he says

After selling Yamana Gold Inc. in March, a company Peter Marrone founded two decades ago, some expected the 63-year-old mining executive to take up fishing since he had never played golf, or, at the very least, take some time off before his next business venture.

But barely weeks after selling Yamana for US$4.8 billion to Canadian mining rivals Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Pan American Silver Corp. in March, Marrone jumped at the opportunity to head a mining company with gold-producing assets in Mali, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia.

Does Europe need Niger’s uranium? – by Martina Schwikowski (DW.com – September 4, 2023)

September 7, 2023

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

Will the lights go out in Europe if Niger were to prevent France from mining more of its uranium? DW asked experts in Niger and Europe about the energy supply chain in the wake of the coup.

Niger’s greatest treasure lies underground: Uranium is the most important commodity in the Sahel state. But coup plotters have been in charge for just over a month, fueling fears that the uranium supply to global markets is in jeopardy.

France, the former colonial power in Niger, is in a particularly tight spot. Around two-thirds of its electricity comes from nuclear power plants powered by uranium sourced in Niger. It also exports electricity to other countries in Europe that have no nuclear plants of their own.

After death of Russia’s Wagner chief, what happens to his mercenary army? – by Nabih Bulos (Los Angeles Times – September 6, 2023)

September 7, 2023

https://www.latimes.com/

BEIRUT — Of the many questions raised by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in a suspicious small plane crash last month, perhaps the most consequential relates to the fate of Wagner, the mercenary group he built and honed to become an essential instrument in the Kremlin’s overseas adventures.

Under Prigozhin’s direction, Wagner grew from a band of “little green men” — so named because of the uniforms worn by self-proclaimed volunteers fighting alongside separatists in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 attack on Ukraine — to a far-flung military and business empire.

China zooms in on Latin America, Africa in critical minerals race, says report – by Jackson Chen (Northern Miner – August 30, 2023)

August 31, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Facing more restrictive foreign investment policies in developed markets, China is expected to continue building its influence over key minerals such as lithium and cobalt across the developing world, according to S&P Global.

In a recent report, the U.S. data analytics firm stated that “China’s reach is quietly growing behind minerals critical to a wide range of products that will shape the future,” with firms from upstream to downstream, from miners to battery makers to electric vehicle manufacturers, all jumping into this race.

First They Mined for the Atomic Bomb. Now They’re Mining for E.V.s. – by Roger Peet (The New Republic – August 30, 2023)

August 31, 2023

https://newrepublic.com/

Miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo face few protections in the global rush for metals for the energy transition—as well as a toxic legacy from a previous rush to mine for nuclear weapons.

Serge Langunu is a graduate student in botany at the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In May, he and I were sitting on a bench in the parking lot of a hospital just outside Lubumbashi’s downtown, looking at photos of plants on his laptop.

I met Langunu at the hospital to see an experimental plot of metal-loving plants cultivated by the university’s agronomy department. This understated garden was growing in the shadow of a massive chimney, looming across the street in the mostly abandoned grounds of the old copper smelter named after the state mining corporation, Gécamines.