East Africa

A Dubaibased firm has agreed to lend South Sudan's government $12 billion in exchange for payment in oil, according to a copy of the deal's term sheet and an unpublished U.N. report, possibly stacking pressure on squeezed public financial resources. The deal would be the biggest oil-backed loan South Sudan has actually ever taken out, according to the report composed by a U.N. panel of investigators for Security Council members. The nation's gdp (GDP) is about $7 billion. The U.N. report is due to be published quickly. The contract was signed on Dec. 28 by South Sudan's former financing minister,...

A second drifting liquefied gas (FLNG) factory for Mozambique would have very little negative effect on its sensitive surroundings, a draft ecological impact assessment (EIA) research study by Consultec environmental consultants has actually found. Italy's Eni SPA has actually proposed finding the Coral Norte FLNG platform 10 km north of its twin Coral Sul which is presently operating in the Rovuma Basin. Eni expects to reach a last financial investment decision on its second Mozambique FLNG, which will have a production capacity of 3.5 million lots a year, in the next few months, sources told in October. The report determined...

The United Arab Emirates, home to the financial center of Dubai, has actually been dropped from an international watchdog's list of nations at risk of illicit money flows, a win for the country that could boost its global standing. The Financial Action Job Force (FATF), a body that groups countries from the United States to China to tackle financial criminal offense, on Friday dropped the UAE from its 'grey list' of around two-dozen nations thought about risky. The Gulf country, a magnet for millionaires, lenders and hedge funds, was positioned under closer analysis in 2022, when the FATF highlighted the...

The United States speaks regularly with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state miner Gecamines, a senior State Department authorities told , as Washington looks for to deepen relationships with key providers of cobalt and copper across the African continent. WHY IT is essential Chinese aggressive investment across Congo, Zambia and elsewhere in Africa - which holds huge supplies of minerals utilized to make electrical automobiles and other electronic devices - has for a long time raised concern in Washington. Jose Fernandez, the U.S. State Department's under secretary for economic development, energy, and the environment, said in an interview this week...

South Sudan's earnings from crude oil sales has decreased as war in neighbouring Sudan shut down a pipeline to a port there, contributing to salary hold-ups for federal government authorities, its financing minister said. South Sudan had actually been pumping about 150,000 barrels per day of crude through Sudan for export, paying the latter a transit charge under a formula agreed when South Sudan acquired self-reliance from Khartoum in 2011, taking most oil production with it. Earlier today, three Sudanese officials informed the primary pipeline from South Sudan had actually been experiencing blockages considering that last month due to issues...

China has invited Uganda's. energy minister to Beijing to go over the East African nation's. $ 5 billion petroleum pipeline, Uganda's presidency stated on. Friday. The advancement might signal a possible advancement in. Uganda's efforts to woo Chinese financiers to fund the pipeline,. which the country requires to start crude production from. oilfields that were discovered in 2006. Potential Chinese financing is being thought about as pivotal. after Western banks declined to money the pipeline after pressure. from environmentalists who said the job would contribute to international. carbon emissions. China's unique envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs, Xue. Bing,...

Uganda is working out with Tanzania to import all of its oil items through Dar es Salaam, which would mean an end to imports through Kenya's Mombasa port, Uganda's energy minister informed on Thursday. Uganda has actually been dissatisfied with the longstanding system under which Ugandan fuel business purchase 90% of their supplies through affiliated firms in Kenya. President Yoweri Museveni has grumbled this exposes his country to provide disturbances and high pump costs. In reaction, Uganda revealed in November it would turn over unique rights for supply of all petroleum products to a system of global energy trader Vitol....

Australia's Invictus Energy is hopeful it will within weeks conclude a. production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Zimbabwe federal government. to develop its Cabora Bassa job, a nonexecutive director. stated on Thursday, following years of hold-ups. The PSA is an important missing component as Invictus looks for to. advertise gas discoveries in the north of Zimbabwe, with. energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimating that Mukuyu was the. second biggest discovery made in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015. behind Shell's Jonker-1 discover offshore Namibia. Robin Sutherland, an industry veteran and non-executive. director at Invictus, said a group consulted with senior federal government. officials...

China's CMOC Group overtook Glencore to become the world's. biggest producer of cobalt in 2015 as it ramped up its brand-new. Kisanfu mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The business's production jumped by 174% year-on-year to. 55,526 metric tons, representing over a quarter of worldwide. need of 213,000 loads. Kisanfu, in which Chinese battery giant CATL owns a minority. stake, has flooded the cobalt market. The Cobalt Institute. quotes worldwide production exceeded need by 12,500 loads in. 2023, making it among the most significant surpluses in recent years. CMOC is unconcerned. It plans to lift output even more this....

A vessel sustained superficial damage after being struck by a drone in the Red Sea, 60 nautical miles north of Djibouti, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency stated on Monday. British Maritime Security Firm Ambrey likewise stated early on Tuesday that a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk provider was physically damaged by an unmanned aerial lorry in an occurrence roughly 60 nautical miles north of Djibouti. It was uncertain if the two incidents reported by UKMTO and Ambrey were associated with the exact same vessel. The attack resulted in small damage to the vessel's. lodging superstructure, UKMTO stated in an advisory...

Leaders of a militia in Ethiopia's Amhara region accused the administration in neighbouring Tigray of beating a war drum over plans to return hundreds of countless Tigrayans to areas Amhara fighters captured during a civil war. The future of the disputed territories in northern Ethiopia has stayed a flashpoint between Tigray and Amhara considering that the end of a 2020-2022 civil war, in which Amhara militiamen combated alongside the federal government against Tigrayan rebels. Hundreds of thousands were eliminated in the war. Some of the worst violence was in the two areas, which make up the southern and western parts...

Zimbabwe's only operating nickel mine was on Thursday put under administration, according to a government notification, seven months after halting production due to equipment failure and low prices. Zimbabwe's government owns 70% of Bindura Nickel Corporation's Trojan Nickel Mine which employs about 1,100 people according to Bindura's most current yearly report. The reconstruction order was published on Thursday in the Government Gazette which also revealed the appointment of an administrator. Trojan is Zimbabwe's only main nickel manufacturer, though the nation's platinum miners also produce the metal which is mainly utilized in steelmaking. Nickel prices have fallen from record levels above...

Welltower raised its annual funds from operations (FFO) projection on Monday, banking on strong need for its assisted living and senior real estate residential or commercial properties. The realty investment trust (REIT) owns housing and healthcare residential or commercial properties with a focus on older adults and assisted living. It now sees its 2024 normalized FFO, a crucial efficiency step for REITs, in the series of $4.02 to $4.15 per share, raised from its previous outlook of $3.94 to $4.10 per share. The demand for senior real estate properties has actually been on a rise due to a general aging...

Democratic Republic of Congo is pushing Apple Inc to learn more about its supply chain over concerns it might be tainted with dispute minerals sourced from the nation, worldwide attorneys engaged by Congo stated on Thursday. Congo, particularly its eastern area, has been afflicted by violence since the 1990s, eliminating millions as struggles over national identity, ethnic background, and resources saw neighbouring nations invade and a myriad of armed groups spring up. Conflict has arisen over the control of illegal sell tin and gold along with in coltan and tantalum - widely utilized in cell phones and computers - all...

Zimplats will reduce its headcount by 1% as it carries out broad cost cuts to make it through a. sharp fall in platinum group metal (PGM) costs, CEO Alex. Mhembere said on Wednesday. Zimbabwe's greatest platinum manufacturer revealed in March it. was using voluntary task cuts in an effort to consist of costs. in the middle of declining incomes. Southern African PGM miners, consisting of Zimplats' parent. company Impala Platinum, Sibanye Stillwater and Anglo. American Platinum have scrambled to cut expenses, and thousands of. jobs, after earnings slumped as metal costs plunged over the. past year due to weak auto...

Zambia's power utility Zesco warned it may reduce power products to some mining business, Zambia's Chamber of Mines said on Wednesday, a. development that might disrupt production in Africa's. secondlargest copper manufacturer. State-owned Zesco issued a so-called force majeure on power. materials to numerous Chamber of Mines members, the mines lobby. group said in a statement. The force majeure was offered to mining companies recently. suggesting there may be variations in power supply due to. situations beyond their control, Sokwani Chilembo, the chief. executive for the Chamber of Mines, informed without. providing more information. Up until now we have not...

Zimbabwe is replacing its collapsing local currency with a new one backed by gold and foreign currencies that it hopes will be more steady and aid reduce inflation, the central bank said on Friday. The Southern African nation relaunched its own currency in 2019 after a decade of dollarisation, but it struggled to win public trust and more than 80% of domestic transactions are now carried out in foreign currency. A more than 70% slide in the Zimbabwean dollar considering that the start of the year pushed cost rises beyond 55% in annual terms in March, stimulating bitter memories of...

Zambia's copper output could rise to about 1 million tons by 2026, increased by financial investment in expanding production at mines including those owned by First Quantum Minerals, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane stated on Friday. Production of copper, key to Zambia's economic growth, has been slowly declining in Africa's second-largest producer of the metal even as the federal government targets lifting output to about 3 million lots within the decade. Copper output plunged to 698,000 lots in 2023 from 763,000 loads the previous year, data from the Zambia Chamber of Mines revealed. Production might also get a boost from Mopani...

African development banks are viewed as the most likely funders of Caledonia Mining Corporation's prepared $250 million cash cow in Zimbabwe, the mining business's CEO Mark Learmonth said on Wednesday. Caledonia, which already owns the Blanket cash cow in Zimbabwe, is upgrading a feasibility study ahead of the planned construction of a brand-new mine at Bilboes to produce at least 170,000 ounces every year, making it potentially the country's. greatest cash cow. The southern African nation has substantial mineral. resources, consisting of platinum group metals, gold and lithium,. but has actually had a hard time to draw in investment due...

Impala Platinum's Zimbabwe unit Zimplats stated on Wednesday it is using voluntary job cuts in a bid to protect business from the effect of a sharp fall in platinum group metal (PGM) rates. Zimplats did not state how many of the 8,000 irreversible and agreement jobs were targeted under the planned cuts. The company, which swung to an unusual $8.8 million loss in the six months to December 2023, from a $159.6 million profit previously, stated it was seriously examining its business in the middle of declining metal costs. Unfortunately, labour optimisation initiatives should be carried out urgently to secure...

A. unit of International Holding Company, Abu Dhabi's many. valuable business, is interested in acquiring Zambia's Lubambe. Copper Mine, an asset that China's JCHX Mining has already. consented to buy, three sources acquainted with the details told. . International Resources Holding just recently informed EMR Capital. that it has an interest in bidding for the personal equity. supervisor's 80% stake in the Lubambe copper task, which is up. for sale, a development that might make complex a sale procedure. that's already underway, 2 of the sources stated. The IHC unit's interest in Lubambe, with potential to be. among Zambia's largest...

Rio Tinto faced demands from shareholders at its yearly meeting on Thursday to come tidy on environmental issues, including water and biodiversity, as the company stated it was dedicated to attaining an flawless ESG efficiency. Mining, accountable for 4% to 7% of greenhouse-gas worldwide emissions in 2020, is under the spotlight as a service provider of vital basic materials needed for the energy transition, including electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure. We are discovering a financial path to reach our targets on decarbonisation, in collaboration with federal governments, clients and neighborhoods, CEO Jakob Stausholm said at the yearly conference in...