It’s a great coup for Sipa, say partners as deal dominates meeting of experts from 40 countries Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | The British metal and mining corporation, Rio Tinto, has signaled an interest in Uganda in a move that is being seen as a return of confidence. The news …
Read More »Seven dead, 23 missing in DR Congo canoe accident
Tshikapa, DR Congo | AFP | Seven diamond miners died and another 23 were missing after two canoes capsized in central Democratic Republic of Congo, government and mining officials said on Friday. Local official Kerozene Kabongo told AFP the canoes were carrying miners who dive for diamonds in the Kasai …
Read More »Earthquake kills four in S.Africa mine
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Four miners were killed and three others were trapped underground after an earthquake hit a gold mine outside Johannesburg, its owners said Friday. Thirteen miners were initially trapped about three kilometres (two miles) below the surface, James Wellsted, spokesman for mining company Sibanye-Stillwater, said …
Read More »After the gold rush: Mining boom in Cameroon leaves ‘open tombs’
Bétaré Oya, Cameroon | AFP | For a time, the land around the village of Longa Mali in eastern Cameroon was one of the most prized in Africa, and powerful machines gnawed greedily into its soil to extract precious gold. Today, abandoned with almost the same speed as it was …
Read More »Six killed in Ghana gold mining site collapse: company
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Six miners were killed and two injured when the roof of a tunnel collapsed at a gold mining site operated by US-based Newmont in Ghana’s southern region, the company said Sunday. “I can confirm six fatalities to you. Two others were treated at the clinic …
Read More »Tanzania’s Magufuli builds wall around gem mines
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday inaugurated a 24-kilometre (15-mile) around the country’s tanzanite mines to prevent smuggling of the precious violet-blue stones, which are unique to the East African country. Magufuli in September ordered the army to build the wall around the mines, located …
Read More »DR Congo enacts law to hike tax on minerals
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Joseph Kabila enacted a law to hike taxes on so-called strategic metals and ordered government consultations with foreign companies worried by the change, an official said Sunday. “The law has been promulgated in the same form as was adopted by parliament,” …
Read More »Russia eyes Zimbabwe’s diamonds and platinum
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday met with Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa and discussed possible military co-operation as well as plans to boost economic ties. Lavrov, who is on a tour of Africa, is the first high-profile Russian official to visit Zimbabwe since veteran …
Read More »DR Congo president vows ‘constructive dialogue’ over mining levy
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Joseph Kabila has promised to have “constructive dialogue” with mining companies worried over plans to hike taxes on so-called strategic metals, a category expected to include the booming market for cobalt and copper. Kabila on Tuesday held more than seven hours of …
Read More »Cobalt boom turns life upside down in DR Congo
Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …
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