Battery Metals

The New Guard
Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, DRC, Ethiopia, Libya

Every Wednesday, Africa Intelligence reveals the next generation of movers and shakers in business and politics.

SenegalMamadou Fall Kane, presidential oil adviser, branches out into mining

Guinea-BissauSaico Umaro Embaló, the president's nephew and Turkey envoy

DR CongoArthur Omar Kayumba, Tshisekedi's Grand Inga irritant

EthiopiaWintana Shimelis, in charge of the UK's Diageo in Addis

LibyaAhmed al-Sharkasi, the PM's low-key advisor

Burkina Faso
The who's who of the mining sector reform discussions

The future of Burkina Faso's mining sector is at the heart of discussions that began in April between the junta, the government, the Chamber of Mines and civil society. Veterans and newcomers to this industry, which is key to the country's GDP, are helping define and negotiate its framework.

DRC
UN assigning consultants to establish battery precursor factory in Katanga

DR Congo has plans to make the most of its resources in cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese by building battery cathode precursor factories in the Haut-Katanga Special Economic Zone. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa will lend a hand.

Botswana
Ex-supermarket tycoon Saleem Malique wants a piece of mining pie

Malique, after selling his shares in the Payless supermarket chain, is now venturing into Botswana's growing mining sector alongside a Sri Lankan investor.

Central Africa, Namibia
Enaex and Sasol move to dominate mining explosives supply in Walvis Bay

A partnership between Sasol and the Chilean firm Enaex, one of South America's leading mining explosive firms, is planning to build a huge warehouse to stock ammonium nitrate - the substance behind the catastrophe in the port of Beirut but widely used in the mining industry.

DRC
After ERG, more Kazakh businessmen land in Katanga

Eurasian Resources Group remains a leader in the production of copper and cobalt in the DRC. But another company from Kazakhstan, interested in battery metals and linked to the financial tycoon Kenges Rakishev, was recently registered in Lubumbashi.

Tanzania
Zanzibar ditches planned Chinese port at Mpiga Duri

A year ago, Tanzania confirmed two deep-water port concessions on the Zanzibar coast. But amid fraying relations between Dodoma and Beijing, one of them has been abandoned.

Zimbabwe
Morgan Stanley and Mitsubishi bet on Prospect Resources' battery metals operations

Australian Prospect Resources may have just shed its flagship Zimbabwean lithium project to China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, but this hasn't deterred investors Mitsubishi and Morgan Stanley from betting on the junior's future battery metals projects.

Tanzania
Australia's Evolution Energy ends stalemate over graphite in PM Majaliwa's homeland

An agreement has been reached between the Tanzanian authorities and the Australian junior Evolution Energy Minerals (formerly Marvel Gold) to recover its exploration rights in the Chilalo graphite mining operation.

Guinea
Alpha Condé's former mining adviser goes it alone

An instrumental figure in the mining sector under Alpha Condé, but sidelined since the coup, Alkaly Yamoussa Bangoura has just set up a consultancy firm dedicated to the industry.

Africa, Saudi Arabia
Leaving trading to Dubai, Riyadh is hoping to be the Gulf's other mining hub for Africa

On a full-scale push in Africa, Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Arabia is trying to present itself as the key to developing a responsible mining industry on the continent.

Botswana
Lawyer Rizwan Desai expands mining investments

Top lawyer Rizwan Desai, founding partner of the influential Gaborone law firm Desai Law Group, registered the company Mining and Power Resources on 29 November. He is the company's sole shareholder.

Africa, Germany
Berlin betting on Deutsche Qualität to convince African mine operators

Berlin and the German Mining Network are showcasing their state-of-the-art technology to win mining contracts and ensure the supply of strategically important minerals to Germany.

Namibia
Banned from Swartmodder, Africa Huaxia Mining continues to go after new permits

Despite being removed from the Namibian Chamber of Mines and expelled from the Swartmodder copper mine in September, Chinese group Africa Huaxia Mining is nonetheless embarking on an all-out expansion in the country. Under the guise of multiple subsidiaries, it is racking up new mining licences.

Tanzania
Local billionaire Rostam Aziz's firm is new majority stakeholder in Tancoal

After many months of fruitless searching, the Australian firm Intra Energy Corporation has finally found a buyer for its majority stake in Tanzania's largest coal mine: a firm owned by Rostam Aziz, a local billionaire and former treasurer of the country's ruling party.

West Africa
Australian miners wary of Russian forays into West Africa

The Australian mining and petroleum community in West Africa is keeping a close eye on the growing Russian influence in the region.

Africa, Sierra Leone
Canadian and Icelandic funds continue to target African bauxite

GreenBank Capital and JV Capital's planned takeover of Sierra Leone's Port Loko bauxite project via Ubique Minerals may have fallen through, but they are still looking for high-potential deposits in the country and further afield on the African continent.

Namibia
Windhoek bets on sustainable mining future to lure foreign capital

The Namibian mining industry's annual conference demonstrated how ESG is at the core of Windhoek's mining development strategy. The private sector is very much on board in the bid to give the country an advantage over its African rivals.