US Turns Tables on Putin in Africa PMC Powerplay – by Brendan Cole (Newsweek Magazine – December 20, 2023)

https://www.newsweek.com/

Security firm Bancroft Global Development is looking to manage mining sites in the Central African Republic (CAR), following a push by Washington for the former French colony to stop relying on Russian-backed Wagner mercenaries, it has been reported.

Radio France International (RFI) said that delegates from the U.S-based firm had been talking with the CAR over providing trained, equipped units to protect sites in the country where armed groups operate.

Read more

Why Congo’s chaotic election matters (The Economist – December 18, 2023)

https://www.economist.com/

The country is a vortex of instability at the heart of Africa

One of the world’s least orderly elections will be held on December 20th. Or will it? A presidential ballot is scheduled in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mineral-rich but breathtakingly poor country of 100m people. However, the preparations have been so shambolic that some locals expect a delay, or an extension of voting.

Many areas will not receive crucial papers for recording the results by election day. By one estimate 70% of voter-identity cards are illegible, raising fears that some people will be barred from voting, while others will vote twice. And those are just some of the problems in the parts of the Congo that are not at war.

Read more

Report: Russia has laundered $2.5 billion of African gold since February 2022 – by Martin Fornusek (Kyiv Independent – December 12, 2023)

https://kyivindependent.com/

The Kremlin has laundered $2.5 billion of African gold since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a report by an international group of researchers and human rights activists published on Dec. 12.

Russia’s illicit activities and ties to authoritarian regimes in Africa have been under the public eye for years. Russian mercenaries on the continent, whose operations help to fill Moscow’s coffers, have been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses against local populations.

Read more

Canadian miners accused of indirectly supporting Wagner Group in Mali – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – December 12, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Three Canadian mining companies in Mali are indirectly helping its government finance the cost of Russian mercenaries who have been implicated in massacres and other atrocities in the country, a new report says.

Mali’s military junta, which came to power in a series of coups in 2020 and 2021, is paying a reported US$10-million a month to the Wagner Group, a Russian military contractor, in exchange for the deployment of an estimated 1,000 soldiers in the West African country.

Read more

Conflict-weary DR Congo votes on December 20: A guide to the election – by Lorraine Mallinder (Al Jazeera – December 7, 2023)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

As the mineral-rich DR Congo prepares to vote for a new president this December, opponents are already crying foul.

Tensions are rising in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as it prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections while struggling to contain myriad armed groups wreaking havoc in the mineral-rich east.

The nation of about 100 million people is a battleground for more than 120 groups fighting for land and resources, some reportedly backed by or intervening in neighbouring countries, such as Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Uganda and Rwanda.

Read more

Could the DRC become the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age? – by Jason Mitchell (BNE Intellinews – December 7, 2023)

https://intellinews.com/

Perhaps no country has more to gain from the ‘clean’ energy transition than the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which sits atop some of the world’s biggest copper, cobalt, coltan and lithium reserves.

The planet’s cobalt reserves total 7.6mn tonnes of which the DRC has 3.5mn tonnes, followed by Australia with 1.4mn tonnes and Indonesia with 600,000 tonnes, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). In 2022, the DRC produced an estimated 130,000 tonnes of the metal, or 70% of the world’s production (Indonesia, in second place, produced only 10,000 tonnes).

Read more

Arrests and attacks: tracking China’s illegal mining in African countries – by Smruthi Nadig (Mining Technology – December 6, 2023)

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

While Africa makes billions from Chinese investment in its mineral-rich countries, exploitation and illegal mining activities have become part of the deal.

China’s massive metals industry can only maintain its size using imported minerals, frequently from limited suppliers. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative, the country has actively invested in mining assets in Africa and Latin America, and is beginning to engage in overseas refining and downstream facilities.

Many countries have welcomed this with open arms. Africa’s mining and mineral extraction industries, especially in countries like Nigeria, Namibia and Ghana, have attracted billions of dollars from China, one of the continent’s biggest participants. The vast reserves of cobalt, lithium, copper, and other minerals essential to modern technology production have attracted investment and operations in several African countries.

Read more

New high-grade copper find in DRC similar to Kakula, Ivanhoe says – by Staff (Mining.com – November 28, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) announced on Tuesday that geologists made a significant high-grade copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) similar to the massive orebody it is mining at the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex.

The discovery, named Kitoko — meaning “beautiful” or “gift” in several local languages — was made on Ivanhoe’s recently acquired joint venture licences in the Western Foreland, about 25 km west of the ultra-high-grade to Kamoa-Kakula mine.

Read more

Ivanhoe to start copper exploration in Angola – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 27, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) said on Monday it planned to kick off exploration activities in Angola next year as it has secured rights over an area the size of Switzerland for an initial period of five years.

The Canadian miner has been granted 22,195 square kilometres of prospecting rights for exploration in the country’s Moxico and Cuando Cubango provinces, covering what Ivanhoe calls “highly prospective”, greenfield copper exploration ground. Activities are expected to commence following team mobilization in early 2024, the company said.

Read more

Battle for Influence Rages in Heart of Wagner’s Operations in Africa – by Elian Peltier (New York Times – November 26, 2023)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The death of the mercenary group’s leader has created a window of opportunity in the Central African Republic for Western powers to offer an alternative.

In palmier times, the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, appeared at a Russian cultural center in the capital of the Central African Republic, sitting with schoolchildren and promising them free laptops.

But Mr. Prigozhin’s death in August has rattled the mercenary group’s once-cozy relations with the Central African Republic, which is now weighing offers from Russia and Western countries, including the United States, to replace Wagner as its primary security guarantor.

Read more

Giant Lithium Deposit in Democratic Republic of Congo Sparks Boardroom Battle – by William Clowes, Annie Lee and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – November 22, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A battle over control of a massive untapped lithium deposit shifted gear as AVZ Minerals Ltd.’s biggest shareholder signaled it will support the ouster of the Australian miner’s board.

The Manono project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has the potential to be one of the world’s largest sources of the battery metal but, after acquiring exploration rights seven years ago, AVZ has found itself locked in lawsuits and arbitration against its partners and the Congolese government.

Read more

Low Platinum Prices Show How Banking on Miners Could Threaten the Energy Transition – by Yusuf Khan (Wall Street Journal – November 15, 2023)

https://www.wsj.com/

South Africa’s platinum-sector woes show how quickly fortunes can change in mining

Plunging prices for platinum and other critical metals could derail mining investment needed to develop new supplies, posing a significant threat to decarbonization targets set by countries around the world.

Platinum is used to make the electrolyzers that produce hydrogen and the sharp down cycle in South Africa’s platinum mining sector demonstrates how low prices and a lack of investment could slow the energy transition.

Read more

China’s lithium plants generate jobs in Zimbabwe, but expansion is pushing some locals out of their homes – by Jeffrey Moyo and Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – November 16, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A thunderous explosion echoes through the Nora Valley, and a thick cloud of white and grey dust rises from the blast site at a lithium plant. At a nearby school, two students scream with shock and bolt for cover. At a teacher’s house, dust wafts from a widening crack above the entrance door.

Welcome to the Zimbabwean lithium boom. Lithium, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles, has become the fastest-growing industry in Zimbabwe, with Chinese companies investing billions of dollars in the mining and processing of what is sometimes called “white gold.” But along with the surging investment, there is growing controversy over the impact of the Chinese projects on communities and the environment.

Read more

Is Botswana Getting a Raw Deal From De Beers Diamonds? – by John Eligon (New York Times – June 29, 2023)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Botswana, in southern Africa, has partnered with the London-based diamond giant De Beers for decades. Many in the country are pushing to get a better deal from the industry.

Botswana produces more of the world’s diamonds than any country but Russia. But Botswana, a small landlocked nation in southern Africa, keeps only 25 percent of the rough stones extracted in its agreement with De Beers, an international diamond conglomerate. De Beers takes 75 percent.

That disparity has been at the heart of an argument by the president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, that his country is getting a raw deal from De Beers, a London-based company. Mr. Masisi has said that if Botswana does not get more, it might walk away from the half-century-old partnership when the current agreement expires on Friday.

Read more

More than half of illegal mining suspects are foreign nationals, Justice Cluster finds – by Marleny Arnoldi (MiningWeekly.com – November 10, 2023)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Ateam comprising representatives of many government departments and State entities has made progress in curbing the scourge of illegal mining in South Africa, with 4 067 suspects having been arrested on illegal mining-related charges.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise and Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola on November 10 hosted a media briefing to provide an update on the progress made in combatting illegal mining and associated crimes.

Read more