Africa Mining – Page 106 – Republic of Mining

Panel calls for policy changes to boost South Africa’s mining industry – by Megan Van Wyngaardt (MiningWeekly.com – January 27, 2017)

January 25, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Governments that have implemented positive policy changes, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, have contributed to exponential growth in the mining production of their countries in the last ten years, but South Africa is lagging far behind, Cadiz Corporate Solutions head of mining Peter Major said on Wednesday.

“We haven’t had a policy change here since 1994, which will keep pushing our production down, which does not make it a good investment destination,” he noted during a panel discussion at Deloitte’s Africa Outlook 2017.

Major further pointed out that investors were looking at cash-generating assets, more than greenfield projects. “Yes, they want existing projects, but most of all they want policy . . . this is more important than anything else by far, more than commodity prices, orebodies and infrastructure.”

Mining firms see little appeal in Egypt’s gold exploration terms – by Eric Knecht (Reuters U.S. – Janaury 24, 2017)

January 24, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

CAIRO – The gold beneath Egypt’s desert could make it a top global producer, but the investment terms on offer are driving away small explorers whose skills the country needs to unlock its mineral wealth.

The Egyptian government launched its first international tender for gold mining concessions in eight years last week, potentially an exciting opportunity for global miners to help develop a relatively untapped gold-mining frontier.

Though it has a history of gold-mining stretching back to the pharaohs, Egypt today has a single commercial gold mine, Centamin’s Sukari, which produced 551,036 ounces last year.

Rio Executive Firing Linked to Internal CEO Feud, Says Conde – by Jesse Riseborough and Franz Wild (Bloomberg News – January 20, 2017)

January 23, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The President of Guinea is disputing public statements made by Rio Tinto Group regarding the firing of a senior executive for a $10.5 million payment made to the president’s friend Francois de Combret.

President Alpha Conde said the firing of Alan Davies, who headed Rio’s $20 billion Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, was the result of an internal feud. Rio has said it was because of improper payments to de Combret in 2011 for assisting the company’s negotiations with Conde on the mine.

Davies had been seen as a challenger to Jean Sebastien Jacques prior to the Frenchman becoming chief executive officer in July. “In reality, it was a settling of scores because the new CEO wanted to get rid of Alan Davies,” the 78-year-old Conde, who’s been president since 2010, said in an interview on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.

China Moly to help BHR acquire stake in Congo’s Tenke copper mine (Reuters U.S. – January 22, 2017)

January 23, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

China Molybdenum Co Ltd (CMOC) said on Sunday it had signed an agreement with Chinese private equity firm BHR to support BHR’s acquisition of a 24 percent stake in Democratic Republic of Congo’s massive Tenke copper mine.

Congo’s mining minister Martin Kabwelulu, meanwhile, confirmed CMOC had become the majority owner of Tenke after state miner Gecamines dropped its objections to CMOC’s purchase in May of a 56 percent stake from Freeport McMoRan Inc for $2.65 billion.

Gecamines, which holds a 20 percent stake in Tenke, one of the world’s largest copper mines, also dropped its objections to BHR’s purchase of a minority stake from Canada’s Lundin Mining in November for about $1.14 billion, Kabwelulu told Reuters.

Davos boosts platinum fuel cell outlook with hydrogen council launch – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – January 18, 2017)

January 18, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (EVs) offer the most natural solution for emission-free vehicles, discharging only water and requiring negligible change to current driving and refuelling habits, which is why 13 leading energy, transport and industry companies this week chose Davos to launch a global hydrogen initiative aimed at beating climate change.

Collectively representing revenues of €1.07-trillion and 1.72-million global employees, the new Hydrogen Council is going all out to position hydrogen as the answer to the world’s search for a carbon dioxide-free environment – which is a major boost for platinum-catalysed fuel cells.

At Davos, hydrogen was declared the clean fuel that can take the world into a no-carbon future, on the back of technology breakthroughs that include liquefied hydrogen now being safely transportable in much the same way as oil.

These are the African countries investors should pay attention to … and not – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 17, 2017)

January 17, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

About half of all the African countries either host significant operating mines or have advanced exploration projects, yet investors tend to shy away due to perceived risks such as high levels of corruption and political uncertainty, a new report shows.

There are many rankings that aim to help companies choose the best countries to set up shop in the region, such as Canada’s Fraser Institute annual report and Transparency International’s corruption index, but London-based finnCap has come up with one of its own.

The investment bank analyzed the 25 (roughly) countries in Africa that have working mines or or advanced exploration projects, incorporating the best known rankings available, but factoring each country’s geological potential and their current security risk.

Acacia Jumps in London on $4 Billion Endeavour Merger Talks – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Thomas Seal (Bloomberg News – January 16, 2017)

January 16, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Acacia Mining Plc jumped to the highest in almost two months after the gold miner confirmed it is in early-stage talks with rival Africa-focused producer Endeavour Mining Corp. about a possible merger of the two companies which have a combined value of about $4 billion.

Acacia, which mines the precious metal in Tanzania, rose 4 percent to close at 435 pence in London, the highest since Nov. 21, after earlier rising as much as 7.7 percent.

After the close of trading in London on Friday, Acacia said it was in “discussions regarding a possible combination” with Endeavour. Bloomberg News earlier reported that day the companies were exploring a merger, citing people familiar with the talks. Toronto-listed Endeavour confirmed on Friday it had held discussions with Acacia that “may or may not result in agreement of a transaction.”

A pig of a project: Africa’s largest iron-ore deposit has tainted all who have touched it (The Economist – January 14, 2017)

January 16, 2017

http://www.economist.com/

ON THE flanks of the Simandou mountains in south-eastern Guinea live remote colonies of West African chimpanzees. They alone should be grinning over the fate of those who have sought to turn their tropical habitat into Africa’s biggest iron-ore mine. No one else is laughing.

Rarely has such a group of billionaires, hedge-fund barons, mining firms, government officials and go-betweens been snagged in such a woeful saga. In theory, the prospect of digging up 2bn tonnes of ore from a country that is among the poorest on Earth should be encouraging, if corruption is kept in check.

The government of Alpha Condé promised to do so upon taking office in 2010. But in reality the line between paying go-betweens to help win concessions and lining officials’ pockets is so blurry that it can cause mining firms endless trouble.

South Africa: 1 700 Workers Start Strike 2.4km Below Harmony Mine (All Africa – January 12, 2017)

January 13, 2017

http://allafrica.com/

About 1 700 miners refused to return to the surface of Harmony Gold’s [JSE:HAR] Kusasalethu mine in the West Rand on Wednesday, with the miner saying they have embarked on an illegal sit-in.

“Harmony Gold confirms that around 1 700 employees are participating in an illegal sit-in at the company’s Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville,” the company said in a statement.

“The sit-in started on Wednesday, January 11 when employees chose not to return to surface at the end of the morning shift. “No formal demands have been made by the participating employees.

Diamonds forever: Will Israel stay away from Congo? – by Daniel Brett (Al Arabiya.net – January 11, 2017)

January 12, 2017

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/

Building an empire in Congo

“Nothing happens in Congo without Dan Gertler and Gertler can do nothing without playing the Israeli card,” said an advisor to an international mining conglomerate. But the net is tightening around the Israeli billionaire mining magnate who dominates the economic life of the resource rich but economically impoverished Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Israeli mining magnate has been fundamental in the Kabila family’s control of the DRC over the past two decades. But the 42-year-old billionaire, who was the inspiration of for the movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is now under international scrutiny over corruption.

Meanwhile, his main Congolese ally, President Joseph Kabila, is clinging on by his fingertips to power. The fragile situation in the Central African rentier state threatens to drag the Israeli security establishment into a renewed conflict to defend the billionaire’s interests.

Fortune hunters flock to Madagascar’s sapphire mines (Agence France-Presse -January 8, 2017)

January 9, 2017

http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/

(AFP) – The dusty figure is lowered slowly into the ground like a bucket into a well, armed with just a crowbar, a shovel and an old, unreliable headlamp. In the surrounding countryside, bodies rise and sink from hundreds of holes just wide enough for a man.

Children run between the rubble and the smell of cooking wafts from the makeshift shelters where women crouch over pots. Guards armed with hunting rifles stand by, turning the settlement of Betsinefe into a threatening scene. In the world of Madagascan sapphire mining, there are few rules.

Sapphires were first discovered in Madagascar in the late 1990s, and already the Indian Ocean island is one of the world’s largest producers of the precious stones. Its 250-kilometre-long (155-mile) deposit is among the biggest in the world and has sparked a sapphire rush.

Child labor in eastern Cameroon’s gold mines – by Moki Kindzeka (Deutsche Welle – January 5, 2017)

January 5, 2017

http://www.dw.com/en/

Children in eastern Cameroon leave school as young as seven to work in gold mines. Moki Kindzeka travelled to the mining town of Betare-Oya where residents have an uneasy relationship with the Chinese mining community.

The road to Betare-Oya in eastern Cameroon is better than it used to be. Five years ago, it was narrow and bumpy but in the meantime the surface has been tarred and the ride is much smoother.

Simon Estil, the senior government official in Betare-Oya, says urban development in the area is being driven by gold mining. He said there used to be a market just once a week, now the market is open daily and a second one has sprung up.

[South Africa] Mining at 150 should be celebrated, not threatened yet again – by John Kane-Berman (Politicsweb.com – January 3, 2017)

January 4, 2017

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/

The year 2017 will be the 150th anniversary of the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. Actually, that may not be strictly accurate, as diamonds might have been discovered earlier although not put to commercial use. But the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange in 1867 sparked off mining all over the country.

It also sparked off many other things, including the first stock exchange in Africa in nearby Kimberley in 1881, where Cecil Rhodes consolidated thousands of small diggings. Another direct by-product of mining was two universities, those of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria, which originated in a school of mines in Kimberley.

Diamond mining begat gold mining, which begat coal mining, as the mines needed colossal amounts of energy. Railways had to be built, and the mines played a huge part in financing them. Mining, in short, turned South Africa from an agricultural into an industrial economy, whence it matured into one dominated by the service industries spawned by the needs of the mining and industrial sectors.

Six of the best: good news stories that lit up 2016 – by David McKay (MiningMX.com – December 22, 2016)

December 22, 2016

http://www.miningmx.com/

THERE was a good deal of trepidation in January 2016 as analysts and executives forecast another year of nail-biting austerity. And whilst it’s not yet beer and skittles for the world’s mining sector, there were some moments of cheery illumination of which the following is a rough sketch.

1. Ivan Glasenberg: The recovery of Glencore.

Glencore’s €10.5bn swoop for 19.5% of Russian oil company, Rosneft this month signalled a return to deal-making for the Swiss-based firm which also brought the curtain down on its self-help programme.

Some 18 months earlier short traders ran Glencore’s stock down 27% using fears about runaway debt for tinder. The response from Glencore was described in November by one analyst as ‘stunning’.

Anglo American’s future may lie outside South Africa – by Gavin du Venage (The National – December 21, 2016)

December 22, 2016

http://www.thenational.ae/

Anglo American, the corporation that helped turn South Africa into the world’s gem and gold supplier, may finally be ready to quit the country it helped shape for about a century.

Anglo, as it is mostly called, was once a cradle-to-grave employer that owned not just vast diamond, gold and other mineral assets, but a cross-section of South African industries spanning most sectors. At its height in the 1980s, Anglo owned food producers, packaging companies and others.

So pervasive was its influence that in the media sector, it owned shares in rival newspaper firms, the paper mills they depended on and even the very forests these fed on. It was, however, minerals that ran through Anglo’s corporate culture, and which were its main focus.