Another week in Africa

Another week in Africa

The quest to find and establish reliable supply of critical minerals in Africa is heating up.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine

Malawi and China has a long-standing relationship. Malawi chose to recognise the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan in 2008 which resulted in increased collaboration between the two counties in various sectors, especially in the development of infrastructure.

Those relations were further strengthened and expanded to minerals and mining last week when the government of Malawi signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese company Hunan Sunwalk for a USD7-billion investment to develop the country’s mining sector, with a strong focus on titanium extraction.

White House turns attention to West Africa

The race between China and the USA in Africa is heating up. Hot on the heels of pushing through the peace deal signed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda two weeks ago, the White House has now turned their attention to troubled West Africa, with President Donald Trump set to host the first West African focused summit in the next two weeks.

He has invited leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal. The conversations will focus on economic opportunities in West Africa and most importantly regional security. A broader US-Africa summit will also be held in September.

Russia’s presence in West Africa

Russia has a large presence in this part of the world and has been expanding its interests in especially gold and uranium operations in countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Central African Republic (CAR), amongst others.

India’s exploration drive in Zambia    

Other interesting news is that India announced it is intensifying efforts to find critical minerals in Africa. The country will be sending a group of geologists to Zambia to focus on exploration of especially copper and cobalt.

The Indian government said in a statement that Zambia has granted India access to 9000 square km for exploration, with a three-year project timeline. “If results are promising, India may seek a mining lease and invite private players to join.

Exploration and mining projects on WhyAfrica’s radar

Interesting exploration and mining projects that WhyAfrica will look at this week includes WIA Gold’s Kokoseb Gold project in Namibia, Scandinavian-based Akobo Minerals, which completed its first gold smelt recently and GoviEX’s uranium exploration in Zambia.

On a visit to Malawi’s parliament  

In picture is a statue of late Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika at parliament building in Lilongwe, Malawi, where China and Malawi signed a mining deal last week. The sculpture was done by renowned South African sculptor Jean Doyle’s Artistic Works. The picture was taken when the WhyAfrica team visited parliament in Malawi for interviews during one of our previous WhyAfrica Road Trips. Image credit: Leon Louw for WhyAfrica

Another week in Africa