Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | About 950 gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine’s owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger. The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said a massive power outage caused by a storm had …
Read More »DR Congo revises mining code to make most of battery-driven cobalt boom
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | As demand for batteries drives a surge in the price of cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo is gearing up to overhaul its mining regulations to harvest more profit from the coveted metal. The global boom for smartphones and electric cars has pushed up the …
Read More »Several dead in gold mine clashes on Mali-Guinea border
Conakry, Guinea | AFP | Several people were killed in clashes between gold miners on the Mali-Guinea border this week, Guinean and Malian officials said Wednesday. Despite having areas rich in gold, both Guinea and Mali are among the world’s poorest countries, with many miners going it alone or in …
Read More »Chinese firm probes if children work in African mines
Beijing, China | AFP | A Chinese metal trading firm said Thursday it is investigating whether children are toiling in Congolese mines that supply it with cobalt, a key resource for mobile phones and electric cars. Yantai Cash, a cobalt exporter based in eastern Shandong province, told AFP that it is …
Read More »Sierra Leone unearths 476-carat gem in new diamond find
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Sierra Leone said Saturday miners had unearthed a huge 476-carat diamond, eight months after an even more valuable find in the country’s diamond-rich east. It appears to be the 29th largest diamond ever found, according to experts, but it is unclear what the hefty stone …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Dispute threatens Karamoja mining deal
THIS WEEK: Dispute threatens Karamoja mining deal Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Residents in Kosiroi village, Tapac sub-county in Moroto district in the north eastern part of the country have issued a warning to cancel a mining concession granted to Tororo Cement Limited over failure to sign a Memorandum of …
Read More »Huge sums in mining revenue off the books in DR Congo
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Some $750 million (644 million euros) in revenue from Democratic Republic of Congo’s mines between 2011 and 2014 “cannot be reliably tracked” in the records of the state-owned Gecamines, the Carter Center said Friday. The US foundation, in a report, suggested Gecamines used “its …
Read More »Secrets of Karamoja minerals
Fake investors and effects of government delaying survey of mineral-rich region Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Big money is coming into Uganda from mining activity in various parts of the country and more could come in, especially if Karamoja which is considered “the basket of Uganda’s minerals” is surveyed. …
Read More »Tanzania president orders wall be built around tanzanite mines
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday ordered the army to build a wall around the country’s tanzanite mines to prevent smuggling and better control exports of the precious gems unique to the East African country. The deep blue or royal purple stones are mined in …
Read More »Tanzania seizes diamonds from British mining company
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The Tanzanian government said Sunday it had confiscated diamonds worth nearly $30 million after accusing British company Petra Diamonds of having declared a lower value when trying to export the gems. Speaking on government television channel TBC 1, Finance Minister Philip Mpango said the diamonds extracted …
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