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Africa Mining

The Dark Side of Cobalt: How China Mines Congo’s Treasure – by Dr Monika Chansoria (Japan Forward – September 4, 2024)

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Cobalt powers our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. It’s time for global action to end child labor and other toxic conditions in the mines.

The central African country, Congo, affects our daily lives like none other. While many may be surprised at this assertion initially, it is true. Cobalt, the most essential component to every rechargeable lithium-ion battery made today, is found and mined predominantly in the Congo.

Roughly 75 percent of the world’s cobalt supply comes from the Congo. This essential element powers our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Billions of people around the world cannot conduct their daily lives without it.

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China’s Africa interests driven by race for renewables – by Lauren Johnston (Asia Times – September 3, 2024)

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Africa could learn from others how to manage mineral relations with China – looking to what Indonesia did with nickel, for example

How is the race for green energy shaping relations between China and Africa? The global climate crisis has created a push for renewable energy technology – like solar or wind power – which would lessen reliance on polluting energy sources. China saw some years ago that it had a chance to lead in such a new industry.

Africa is home to a lot of the important minerals needed to create renewable technologies – like copper, cobalt and lithium, key ingredients in battery manufacture. The race for green energy is therefore leading to a rush for these minerals in Africa, led by China, the US and Europe.

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US Sees Bipartisan Backing for Africa Critical Minerals Plan – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 28, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A senior US State Department official reassured African governments that an initiative to help counter China’s influence through developing infrastructure on the continent will continue even after a change in administration.

The flagship of the plan — a railway project known as the Lobito corridor that connects copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to an Atlantic port in Angola — is already far advanced, Helaina Matza, acting special coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, told reporters on Wednesday.

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No Stone Unturned: Unearthing the Gems of Africa – by Salon Privé (Salon Privé Magazine – August 2024)

https://www.salonprivemag.com/

Gemfields announces new book “No Stone Unturned” exploring real-life gemstone adventures in Africa over 60 years, written by Richa Goyal Sikri.

These narratives, vividly recounted by influential figures in the gem trade to the author Richa Goyal Sikri, showcase the dynamic and dramatic essence of the business. They also highlight significant historical moments related to notable gem deposits in Africa.

Each story vividly portrays the exhilarating highs and treacherous lows of the trade, offering an insightful glimpse into the vibrant journey of coloured gemstones from mine to market.

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The War in Congo That’s Uprooted 7 Million People: QuickTake – by Michael J. Kavanagh and Simon Marks (Bloomberg News – August 05, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — More than 7 million people have been displaced by violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of Africa’s most volatile regions, and fears have been simmering of a heightened conflict. President Felix Tshisekedi has accused his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame of supporting a rebel group known as M23.

Kagame denied the allegation and countered that Tshisekedi’s inability to control events in his own country poses a security risk to Rwanda. The acrimony escalated in early 2024, with the rebels expanding their territory around the trading hub of Goma and seizing control of key routes including those used to export tantalum, a key mineral in portable electronics.

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Scramble for Critical Minerals Spurs an African Rail Revival – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 24, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Southern Africa’s railways are suddenly getting global attention and attracting billions of dollars in investment, with a race to secure copper supplies needed for the energy transition at its center.

From Angola on the continent’s west coast to Tanzanian on the east, governments and investors are readying to revive decades-old rail lines that have fallen into disrepair and build new ones. Much of the new demand for freight comes from the central African copperbelt that Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo share.

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Lucara finds world’s 2nd largest diamond ever mined – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 22, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Lucara Diamond (TSX: LUC), has dug up a 2,492 carat diamond from its prolific Karowe mine in Botswana, the world’s second-largest stone ever mined in terms of size.

The “epic” diamond, as Lucara put it, was detected and recovered by the company’s Mega Diamond Recovery (MDR) X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology, installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value stones.

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Maximizing the Benefits of the Renewed Global Interest in Africa’s Strategic Minerals – by Folashadé Soulé (Carnegie Endowment – August 15, 2024)

https://carnegieendowment.org/

Negotiations between African governments and foreign investors are often characterized by the various skills, technical capacities, and information asymmetries that shape the balance of power and influence outcomes. The dynamics of these negotiations—in pursuing extractive and infrastructure projects, in particular—merit a special focus, as agreements to carry them out often bind African countries for several decades.

Africa is home to a substantial share of the world’s reserves of mineral resources needed for the clean energy transition and could therefore be the main theater for the global race among China, the United States, European countries, Persian Gulf countries, and others to secure access. The International Energy Agency estimates that manufacturers of clean energy technologies will need forty times more lithium, twenty-five times more graphite, and about twenty times more nickel and cobalt in 2040 than in 2020.

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Mpox Risks Spreading in Congo’s Crowded Mines, Refugee Camps – by Antony Sguazzin, Michael J. Kavanagh, and Janice Kew (Bloomberg News – August 16, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — For medical and aid workers scrambling to contain an outbreak of mpox on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern flank, the location couldn’t be worse. A strain of the virus — which causes lesions that can result in disfigurement, blindness, and even death — has erupted around the gold-mining town of Kamituga, where about a quarter of a million people live.

It’s an area that thousands of small-scale, individual miners travel in and out of, attracting scores of sex workers while truckers ply routes between Congo and the neighboring nations of Burundi and Rwanda, and on to Tanzania.

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Niger government continues to support Dasa, Global Atomic says (World Nuclear News – August 14, 2024)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

“We continue to make significant progress at our Dasa Uranium Project, currently employing over 450 people at site and expecting to increase that number to 900 once plant construction is in full swing,” Roman said. “We have an excellent relationship with the government and have the support of their entire cabinet, as they appreciate the jobs and economic benefit that Dasa will create for Niger.”

More than 1200 metres of ramp development has been completed since the November 2022 Opening Blast Ceremony, with 7000 tonnes of development ore hauled to surface to date. Mine development is continuing, and raise boring is now under way for the main components of the mine’s ventilation infrastructure.

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China Drives African Lithium Surge to Lock in Key Battery Metal – by William Clowes (Bloomberg News – August 12, 2024

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chinese miners and refiners are driving a surge in African lithium output, shrugging off concerns over a glut to lock in future supplies of the critical battery metal.

The continent is projected to account for almost 11% of global supply this year, compared with close to zero at the start of the decade, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. That’s projected to increase to more than 14% by 2028.

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Governor of eastern Congo’s gold-rich province bans mining activities to ‘restore order’ (Associated Press – July 19, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

The governor of the South Kivu province in eastern Congo on Friday ordered the suspension of all mining activities to “restore order” in the mineral-rich region, which is plagued by violence from armed groups.

Mining activities are suspended until further notice because of “the disorder caused by mining operators,” Gov. Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki said in a statement, without providing further details.

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African countries must make their voices heard on deep-sea mining – by Rashid Sumaila (Al Jazeera – July 19, 2024)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Africa stands at a pivotal moment where its decisions could profoundly influence the trajectory of the industry and the preservation of marine ecosystems.

With negotiations to adopt rules and regulations for commercial deep-sea mining in international waters resuming this week at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), African countries have an extremely important role to play in the future of this industry and the health of our ocean.

ISA, as a UN-affiliated institution, was established in the 1990s to ensure that developing countries would benefit financially from deep-sea mining when/if it starts, ensuring equity in the benefits derived from global commons. As this debate progresses, Africa stands at a pivotal moment where its decisions could profoundly influence the trajectory of this industry and the preservation of marine ecosystems.

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Turkey Top Envoy Goes to Niger in Bid to Secure Uranium Supplies – by Selcan Hacaoglu (Bloomberg News – July 17, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Turkey’s foreign, defense and energy ministers visited Niger on Wednesday to secure access to the West African nation’s rich uranium deposits.

The delegation, which is led by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and includes top spy chief Ibrahim Kalin, wants to tap Nigerien supplies of the fissile mineral to fuel Turkey’s nascent nuclear-power industry, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak to the media.

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‘We now face guns’: Small-scale miners fear Wagner’s advances in CAR – by Philip Obaji Jr. (Al Jazeera – July 10, 2024)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Local miners in the Central African Republic face eviction and violence as the Russian group takes over gold and diamond mines.

Beloko, Central African Republic – When Sadock arrived in the northwestern Central African Republic (CAR) town of Koki in November 2022, he thought he had finally found a safe place to live and work. For years, small-scale miners like him have been displaced and forced to relocate over and over again whenever foreigners entered a local area, seized surrounding gold mines and evicted local miners.

“Some of us [artisanal miners] decided to move to Koki because we thought at the time that no one was disturbing artisanal miners in the [northwest] region,” Sadock, who wanted to be identified by only his first name for fear of retribution, told Al Jazeera.

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