Category: Uncategorized

The largely untapped and unrealized potential that Africa is blessed with has been a magnet that has attracted and continues to attract mining investors to the continent. The spotlight has been firmly focused on Ghana after it was crowned the largest gold producer in Africa in 2019. The predictions for gold production are not waning and it is expected that the production will not only meet but exceed this peak principally due to AngloGold Ashanti’s 30 million ounce mine being restarted and the continuation of production even during the ominous Covid-19 pandemic.… Read More Here

A brief glimpse of a world with considerably improved air quality will almost certainly continue to feed into public perceptions around CO2 emissions and environmental pollution in general. Consequently, we’re likely to see increased agitation for industries like mining to ‘clean up their act’, which will impact those all-important social licenses to operate. Likewise, other key influencers from the recent past will also continue to impact the industry’s reputation in this regard over the coming months. They include: Rio Tinto’s major indigenous heritage bungle at Juukan Gorge, Zambia’s continued environmental and air… Read More Here

The South African mining sector has remained resilient amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the view of Minerals Council South Africa president Mxolisi Mgojo. He was speaking at a media briefing on the eve of the Investing in African Mining Indaba Virtual Event, on ‘The State of the Mining Nation’ and to launch the organisation’s Facts and Figures Pocketbook 2020. Despite production disruptions as a result of an ongoing national lockdown, the mining sector is still a significant contributor to the country’s economy. Among the key economic drivers, the mining sector has: Contributed R361.9… Read More Here

The owner of Uganda’s only tungsten mine has filed a claim against the International Tin Association (ITA) over alleged anti-competitive behaviour, a claim summary published by Britain’s Competition and Appeal Tribunal shows. Kerilee Investments Limited, the British majority shareholder in Uganda-based KI3R, which owns the Nyamuliro tungsten mine, says the ITA refused it membership of its conflict mineral due diligence programme “without due process or justifiable reason”. The International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI) was set up in 2009 and formalised in 2011 to help end-users of tin, tantalum/niobium and… Read More Here

Mining companies in Zimbabwe said a central-bank requirement compelling them to surrender more foreign exchange earned from mineral exports will push their operations to the brink. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Jan. 8 announced that exporters must now hand over 40% of their foreign currency earnings, up from 30%, which is then paid out in the local currency. The country’s mining body said the move would create “a viability crisis” for the industry as members already face increased demand for payment in hard currency from various government agencies, suppliers… Read More Here

The Tanzania gold mines of Barrick Gold have been successfully revived, with North Mara delivering significant improvements and underground production starting at Bulyanhulu, the Canadian major reported on Thursday. Barrick Gold assumed control of the operations of the former Acacia Mining in September 2019 and is now managing the mines through the Twiga joint venture with the Tanzania government. “These mines are now very different businesses,” Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow said in a statement. “North Mara’s life-of-mine production profile has been vastly improved and implementation of its comprehensive water management plan is… Read More Here

Mining Shared Value (MSV), a non-profit initiative of Engineers Without Borders announced that four mining companies have now adopted the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM), with two more set to confirm shortly. Ivanhoe Mines became the first company to use the international transparency standard in 2019, and Lundin Gold, Golden Star Resources and Teranga Gold have now come out with their sustainability reports using the framework. The LPRM is a publicly available information sharing framework that was created by MSV in partnership with the German development agency GIZ, to… Read More Here

Former US president Donald Trump’s last minute controversial removal of sanctions against an Israeli businessman named in corruption scandals in DR Congo’s mining industry and the jailing of another international commodity broker for bribery in a Guinea iron ore scandal this month shows just how vulnerable Africa’s lucrative resources sector has long been to international operators. For too long Africa’s mineral wealth has failed to uplift the majority of ordinary citizens out of poverty.  Resource-rich countries including Zimbabwe (gold, platinum, diamonds) , Sierra Leone (diamonds), DRC (copper, cobalt, gold, diamonds),… Read More Here

Zimbabwe, banking on mining to end two decades of economic stagnation, plans to list the company in which it has placed state mining assets to raise cash to meet government obligations, the nation’s finance minister said. Late last year, the government created Kuvimba Mining House, in which the state pension fund and sovereign wealth fund hold 65%, to house its holdings in platinum, gold and nickel. It intends to use revenue from the company to meet a laundry list of requirements ranging from compensating White farmers for infrastructure on farms… Read More Here

Canada’s Lucara Diamond (TSX: LUC) said Botswana has renewed the company’s mining license for its Karowe mine for another 25 years, paving the way to move the mine’s underground expansion to its execution phase. President and CEO Eira Thomas said the license renewal and extension was an important milestone for the underground expansion of Karowe, as it eases the completion of a supplemental debt financing and full project sanction, later this year. MOVING THE MINE UNDERGROUND IS EXPECTED TO TAKE FIVE YEARS AND EXTEND ITS PRODUCTIVE LIFE BY 20 YEARS The Karowe underground expansion project, which… Read More Here