Africa Mining – Page 18 – Republic of Mining

Lithium war erupts in Zimbabwe – by Staff (Bulawayo 24 – June 18, 2023)

June 19, 2023

THE scramble for lithium in Zimbabwe – which boasts Africa’s largest and the world’s fifth-biggest reserves of “white gold” – is escalating against the backdrop of soaring demand for the lucrative mineral, but local communities continue getting a raw deal and are largely excluded from benefitting.

Lithium is used in the manufacture of energy-storing batteries and has seen growing demand as electric vehicles gain global popularity. In the latest resource-curse controversy, villagers in the Muchemwa area of Buhera district are complaining that they are bearing the brunt of ruinous lithium extraction activity by First Roots Mining Company.

Surat Diamond Dealers Exploit Loopholes In Sierra Leone’s Diamond Trade (The Blunt Times – June 16, 2023)

June 19, 2023

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Many other dealers from Surat, travels to Sierra Leone multiple times a year, purchasing high-value rough diamonds from artisanal workers employed in the local diamond mines

Surat : Samrat Patel (name changed), a diamond dealer from Surat, has become a frequent visitor to Sierra Leone, a diamond mining country in West Africa. Patel, like many other dealers from Surat, travels to Sierra Leone multiple times a year, purchasing high-value rough diamonds from artisanal workers employed in the local diamond mines. However, these diamonds are often stolen from the mines by the workers and sold to dealers like Patel at throwaway prices, allowing them to earn significant profits back in Surat.

Sierra Leone, known for its diamond reserves, has attracted the attention of Surat’s diamond industry, primarily centered in the world’s largest diamond cutting and polishing center. Patel’s visits to Sierra Leone have resulted in a lucrative bounty of rough diamonds that he brings back with him. The diamonds are concealed in bags to evade the scrutiny of customs officials at the airport, as carbon-based diamonds are not easily detectable by sophisticated scanning machines.

Ghana dethrones South Africa to become Africa’s top gold producer (North Africa Post – June 15, 2023)

June 16, 2023

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Ghana has reclaimed its top position as Africa’s premier gold producer, surpassing South Africa, after large-scale mining companies in the West African country increased gold production from 2.2 million ounces in 2012 to 3.08 million ounces last year.

After a temporary setback in 2021 due to a sharp decline in output, Ghana has reclaimed its coveted position as the continent’s top gold producer with a 32% increase in output, driven by both small- and large-scale mining sectors.

Billionaire Forrest ‘Can’t Wait Forever’ for $80 Billion Congo Hydro Deal – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – June 16, 2023)

June 16, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest warned he “can’t wait forever” to seal a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo for a hydropower and green hydrogen project that would be the biggest investment in Africa yet.

The proposed development on the Congo River would produce at least 40 gigawatts of power — equivalent to almost a quarter of Africa’s total current capacity — and construction could start about 18 months after an agreement is signed, Forrest said in an interview Tuesday.

U.S. Urges Heightened Due Diligence In Sudan’s Gold Sector As Conflict Deepens (GJEPC.org – June 12, 2023)

June 12, 2023

https://gjepc.org/

The violent conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted in April 2023 has amplified the risks associated with the gold trade in Sudan. In response to the escalating situation, the U.S. Departments of State, the Treasury, Commerce, Labor, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have issued an update to the May 2022 Business Risk Advisory related to Sudan.

The original advisory highlighted the role of the military and armed groups in Sudan’s economy, particularly within state-owned enterprises. The recent conflict has not only perpetuated these risks but also exacerbated them. As a result, the US government is taking measures to address the situation and protect the stability of Sudan.

Russian mercenaries exploit a war-torn African nation as they lead Putin’s fight in Ukraine – by Gabe Joselow (NBC News – June 1, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://www.nbcnews.com/

“I asked everyone for help. … Was I supposed to refuse the help from those who wanted to help us?” Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra tells NBC News.

BANGUI, Central African Republic — President Faustin-Archange Touadéra says he called in the Russians because he was stuck. It was 2016, soon after his election, and rebels had overrun swaths of the resource-rich country, which is among the world’s poorest nations. Former colonial power France announced it would withdraw its soldiers, the backbone of a United Nations force aimed at quelling the country’s civil war.

And Touadéra’s army and militia didn’t have enough weapons to defeat fighters threatening the capital, Bangui, because the Central African Republic was under a U.N. arms embargo put in place after a previous rebel takeover. So the former mathematics professor turned to Moscow.

China’s Monopoly over Critical Minerals – by Katherine Wells (Georgetown Security Studies Review – June 1, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/

As part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken to investing in critical mineral mines globally. One of these investment hotspots is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2020, the DRC was the world’s largest cobalt miner, producing 41 of all cobalt resources.

Although not the largest producer of copper – Chile produces 27 percent of the global copper production – the DRC boasts the highest-quality copper reserves in the world, with mines estimated to contain copper with grades above 3 percent, 2.4 percent higher than the average supply globally. The mining industry is central to the DRC’s economy, making up over 90 percent of its exports.

Harry Oppenheimer biography shows the South African mining magnate’s hand in economic policies – by Roger Southall (The Conversation – June 1, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://theconversation.com/

In Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty, his outstanding biography of the South African mining magnate who died in 2000, Michael Cardo shows that there is still mileage to be made in the study of dead white males who played a role in the making of South Africa. Based on a remarkable depth of research, it is written in an elegant style which makes for a delightfully easy read.

It is rendered the more impressive by the author’s deep conversance with the debates over the relationships between mining capital, Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. Cardo is an opposition MP.

The World Has a New No. 2 Copper Supplier – by Marcelo Rochabrun and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – June 1, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The Democratic Republic of Congo displaced Peru as the second-biggest copper exporter last year, official data from the two countries show, in a changing of the guard for the mining industry.

While the numbers used in the chart below refer to shipments rather than production, the shift in positions underscores a couple of important trends. Firstly, an up-tick in social unrest and political uncertainties are constraining investment in South America, as more money flows into Africa’s rich ore-bodies.

Protesters clash with soldiers at Ghana gold mining town (Al Jazeera – May 31, 2023)

June 1, 2023

https://www.aljazeera.com/

The clashes come as hundreds remain trapped in mining pits, unable or unwilling to resurface out of fear of arrest.

Heavily armed soldiers have fired shots to disperse protesters in the gold mining town of Obuasi, in the Ashanti region of Ghana, amid an army crackdown on miners whom the government sees as illegal. Authorities arrested seven illegal miners on Monday for exiting a shaft belonging to one of the world’s largest gold miners, AngloGold, according to the company.

Reports then trickled in on Tuesday that hundreds of other miners were trapped underground. It was unclear whether those still underground were unable or reluctant to get out.

[Mali] Goulamina: A lithium sleeping giant – by Tom Parker (Australian Resources and Investment – May 29, 2023)

May 30, 2023

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Mali has long been a gold mining hotspot, but two companies are looking to establish the country’s critical minerals credentials with the Goulamina lithium mine.

Leo Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium Group – China’s largest lithium chemicals producer – are joint venture (JV) partners in the Goulamina lithium project, which is set to begin spodumene concentrate production in the second quarter of 2024 ramping up to a Stage 1 production capacity of 506,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).

Namibia considers taking stakes in mining and petroleum companies – by Kaula Nhongo (Bloomberg News – May 29, 2023)

May 30, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Namibia is considering taking minority stakes in mining and petroleum production companies amid increasing concerns over local ownership of valuable resources.

“We are making a case that local ownership must start with the state, which holds ownership of our natural resources,” Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo told lawmakers on Monday. “The proposed state ownership should take the form where the state owns a minimum equity percentage in all mining companies and petroleum production, for which it does not have to pay,” he said.

Botswana president insists on bigger share of diamonds from De Beers venture (Reuters – May 25, 2023)

May 30, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

GABORONE, May 25 (Reuters) – Botswana will not back down on demands for a bigger share of rough diamonds from its joint venture with De Beers, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Thursday, upping the stakes as talks for a new sales deal appear to be stalling.

Botswana and De Beers mine the precious stones through their equally owned, 54-year-old mining venture, Debswana Diamond Co. The current diamond sales deal, in place since 2011, has been extended three times since 2020 but is set to expire next month.

As Sudan’s latest conflict intensifies, artisanal gold miners are caught in the crosshairs – by Philip Obaji Jr. (Equal Times.org – May 24, 2023)

May 24, 2023

https://www.equaltimes.org/

On 17 April 2023, just before sunset in al-Ibaidiya, a Sudanese mining town on the banks of the River Nile about 400 kilometres north of Khartoum, four soldiers stormed the home of Omar Sheriff and dragged him out of his house. For hours, according to Sheriff, two of the soldiers searched his home, while the others held him hostage outside of his compound.

“They [the soldiers] falsely accused me of working with Russian merchants to smuggle gold out of Sudan,” Sheriff tells Equal Times. “They were hoping to find documents relating to gold smuggling operations at my home, but they couldn’t find anything incriminating.”

West Africa: Macron’s Visit to Mongolia Was Focused On Ensuring France’s Uranium Supply – by Jan Van Der Made (Radio France International/All Africa.com – May 23, 2023)

May 24, 2023

https://allafrica.com/

Access to rare earth minerals and Russia’s war against Ukraine topped the agenda on French President Emmanuel Macron’s historic visit to Mongolia. But the joint declaration signed during the meeting also underlines France’s attempts to find an alternative uranium source for its nuclear reactors.

As it stands, France depends to a large extent on uranium sourced in West Africa. That supply chain, however, is under threat because of social and political unrest in the region. The 18-article joint declaration, which trumpets “strengthening political, economic, commercial and defence cooperation”, also notes that both countries will also cooperate in the energy sector.