Africa Briefs

Angola's expects bumper diamond output

Angola's state-owned diamond firm, Endiama, expects to increase production to 10.3 million carats this year, from 9.12 million carats in 2019, the company said in a presentation released at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town on Tuesday.

It said it expected revenues from diamond sales to rise to US$1.65 billion in 2020, from US$1.26 billion last year. – Nampa/Reuters

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Botswana to accelerate refinery project

Botswana, which has some of Africa's largest coal reserves, wants to cut harmful carbon emissions but is committed to using its resources for a new coal-to-liquid (CTL) refinery set to come onstream by 2025, the mines minister said on Tuesday.

State-owned firm Botswana Oil (BOL) issued a tender three years ago seeking investors to build the plant, estimated then to cost around US$4 billion, as the diamond-rich southern African country seeks to secure its energy supplies.

Lefoko Maxwell Moagi, minister of mineral resources, green technology and energy security, described Botswana's 212 billion coal reserves as “God's gift” and said the CTL project, as well as a 100 megawatt pilot coal bed methane project, were two projects Botswana would fast-track.

Asked about funding challenges for any future coal-related projects amidst a global pushback from banks and investors, Moagi said some banks, which he did not name, as well as Chinese firms remained potential financiers.

Moagi said the government had held preliminary discussions with Sasol, a recognised leader in CTL technology and whose Secunda refinery currently supplies South Africa with millions of litres of synthetic fuel each year. Sasol did not immediately respond for comment.

Moagi said the government also expected to finalise power purchase agreements this year for a planned new 100MW pilot power plant using coal bed methane, gas trapped in underground coal seams.

– Nampa/Reuters

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Nigeria working to have travel ban lifted

Nigeria has begun working on the security and information sharing requirements for the lifting of a U. travel ban on prospective immigrants from the African nation, Nigerian foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Washington with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Onyeama said Nigeria was “blindsided” by the US decision on Friday to add it and five other nations to an expanded version of the US visa ban.

US president Donald Trump issued an expanded version of his travel ban on Friday as part of a presidential proclamation which said Washington would suspend the issuance of visas that can lead to permanent residency for nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria.

Temporary visas for tourists, business people, students and workers from those nations will not be affected, it said. US officials said the countries failed to meet US security and information-sharing standards, which necessitated the new restrictions.

“We've identified all those requirements and we had actually started working on all them,” Onyeama said. “It was very gratifying to come here, speaking to US officials and to understand more clearly the reasoning behind this.”

– Nampa/Reuters

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DRC creates state monopoly for artisanal cobalt

Democratic Republic of Congo has granted a monopoly to a new state-owned company to purchase and market all cobalt that is not mined industrially in an effort to exert greater influence over prices, a government decree shows.

The November decree creates a new subsidiary of state mining company Gecamines with exclusive rights to sell artisanally-mined “strategic minerals”, such as cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries.

The decree says it was motivated by “the necessity of controlling the entire artisanal supply chain and boosting government revenues through control of prices”.

It also aims to exert greater state oversight of working conditions in the artisanal sector, which has been plagued by instances of child labour and other abuses.

It is not clear when the new company would begin operations. Trading of artisanal cobalt, which is extracted with rudimentary tools in often unsafe conditions, is dominated by Chinese middlemen.

Artisanal mining in Congo was the second largest source of global supply after the country's own official sector in 2017, according to estimates by research house CRU.

– Nampa/Reuters

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Libya warns about impact of oil blockade

The head of Libya's state oil firm warned on Monday that if the international community tolerates a blockade on the country's oil industry it would be complicit in ending the rule of law in the country.

The 10-day old blockade is the most extensive for years, shutting down fields and ports in the east and south of Libya and causing production to plunge to 262 000 barrels per day (bpd) from around 1.2 million.

The blockade is part of a conflict between eastern based forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar and rival forces aligned with the internationally recognised government in the capital Tripoli.

The NOC has said the blockade was ordered by Haftar's forces though Haftar's backers have sought to portray the stoppage as the result of popular pressure.

Haftar, who controls most of Libya's oil fields and ports, has been waging a military offensive since April to take control of Tripoli.

– Nampa/Reuters