Africa

His campaign reported that authorities in Cameroon have detained 30 people linked to Issa tchiroma's presidential campaign. This has heightened tensions before Monday's results announcement. Anicet Ekane is the leader of the MANIDEM Party and Djeukam tchameni is a prominent member of the Union for Change. Both had supported Tchiroma’s candidacy. In the nation that produces cocoa and oil, there have been increasing clashes between security and Tchiroma supporters. Tchiroma called for more nationwide protests to take place on Sunday at 1400 GMT. Paul Atanga Nji confirmed at a Saturday press conference that arrests were made in connection with an...

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announced on Sunday that they had taken over the army's headquarters in al-Fashir. This was the last stronghold of the Sudanese Army in Darfur, in the western part of the country. The army has not yet made a public statement about its current situation. RSF has been fighting the army, former rebels, and local fighters for 18 months. The RSF has been targeting civilians with frequent artillery and drone strikes. Meanwhile, the siege is spreading starvation in the city of 250,000 residents. Al-Fashir is a major political victory for RSF. It could also hasten the...

Rhino Resources, a South African oil and gas firm, plans to drill a well for appraisal on a Namibian prospect in 2019 and conduct a flow-test on another to beat TotalEnergies as the first oil producer in this southern African nation. The appraisal well is scheduled for Capricornus, where a flow rate up to 11,000 barrels per day was tested. Meanwhile, the drill stem is scheduled for Volans, which is its latest find of high-yield liquid gas condensate. The new data can help the company to accelerate its discoveries off Namibia where TotalEnergies is expected to make a final investment...

The major Gulf stock markets were mixed early on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of earnings reports. However, Abu Dhabi's index rose on the back of First Abu Dhabi Bank's results. First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates, saw its index rise by 4.6%. FAB, on track for its best day in late July, reported a 21 percent increase in the third-quarter's net profit at 5.39 billion dirhams (1.47 billion dollars), which was above analysts’ average estimates of 4.54 billion. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, whose trading had been suspended before its earnings announcement, was...

In an email, IIR, a industry monitor in Nigeria, said that the Dangote oil refining company restarted its 204,000 barrels per day gasoline production on October 19, as planned. The run rate was 60%. IIR said that the unit will be expected to maintain this rate until a planned shutdown in December 2025 or January 2026 has been completed. A spokesperson from Dangote didn't immediately respond to a comment request. The unit's outage, which began late in August, improved export economics to West Africa, covering the shortfall. This helped boost European gasoline refinery margins. According to calculations, the news of...

Egypt's Foreign Minister said that the Palestinian issue was crucial to progressing in the U.S.-funded transport project connecting India to Europe by sea and rail via the Middle East. The India-Middle East Economic Corridor was announced in September 2023 on the sidelines of a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies. It was seen as a U.S. rival to China's Belt and Road initiative on global infrastructure. A month after the announcement of the decision, war broke out in response to the attack by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023. "We must remember...

Two Milan prosecutors were sentenced to eight months in prison by an Italian appeals court for not filing documents that would have backed up the position of energy group Eni in an international case of corruption. Eni, Shell and all defendants were acquitted by a jury in March 2021, in what was dubbed the biggest corruption case in the oil industry, which involved the $1.3 billion purchase of an oilfield in Nigeria a decade earlier. The judges in Brescia, a northern city in Italy, confirmed the verdict of last year that Fabio De Pasquale & Sergio Spadaro had failed to...

Kuwait's Oil Minister Tareq al-Roumi announced on Wednesday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is planning to appoint one of the "top consultants" in the near future to assess the production capacities of member countries. OPEC+ Ministers requested OPEC headquarters to develop a method to determine the maximum sustainable production capability for each member. This will be used to establish their production baselines for 2027. The determination of the maximum production capability for each OPEC member or OPEC+ is controversial because some members, like the United Arab Emirates have increased their capacity and pushed the case for higher quotas....

Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General of OPEC, reiterated Wednesday that oil and gas will continue to make up about 30% in the global energy mix until 2050. He said that a growing economy, population increase and urbanisation are all signs "that the world will require much more energy than what it consumes today", in his remarks at the Russian Energy Week Conference in Moscow. He predicted a 23% increase in the primary energy demand between 2050 and 2050. "Yes, the world is turbulent and there's much going on. But that's constant." "For us at OPEC, the constant is our ability...

Two senior U.S. government officials announced on Thursday that the United States would deploy 200 troops to Gaza as part of a task force for stability. There will be no Americans present on the ground. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity with reporters, the 200 people would form the core of a taskforce that would also include representatives of the Egyptian military, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the United Arab Emirates. Officials said that the exact location of U.S. forces had not yet been determined. They would create a joint command center and integrate the...

State-run TV reported that South Sudan President Salva Kiir removed the country's chief of military and reinstated its predecessor, whom Kiir had dismissed three months earlier. South Sudanese military and government officials are undergoing a constant turnover as Kiir struggles to deal with the armed conflict in the country and the speculation about his succession. Kiir has been leading a transitional administration in the impoverished, fractured country since its independence from Sudan, in 2011. Elections have been delayed twice and Riek Makar, Kiir’s main rival in a civil war that lasted from 2013-2018, was accused of treason last month. South...

ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi state oil company's international investment arm, has said that it submitted robust remedies to win EU approval for the 14.7 billion-euro (17 billion-dollar) bid for Germany’s Covestro. ADNOC has submitted robust remedies that should win EU approval for its 14.7-billion-euro ($17 billion) bid for Germany's Covestro, the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi state oil giant, said on Monday. The European Commission is currently examining the deal. It is ADNOC’s largest acquisition ever and one of the biggest foreign takeovers by an EU company from a Gulf State. In the case of Covestro, it is the...

The Spanish High Court has opened an investigation into privately owned steelmaker Sidenor, which is accused of selling steel to a firm in Israel for the purposes of manufacturing weapons. This is one of the potential legal consequences that could result from Spain's ban of such deals. According to a statement, Judge Francisco de Jorge will lead the investigation against Sidenor CEO Jose Antonio Jainaga Gomez as well as two other executives. They are accused of smuggling drugs and being complicit in crimes against humanity and genocide. On November 12, they were called to testify. The court said Sidenor had...

The Spanish High Court has opened an investigation into privately owned steelmaker Sidenor, which is accused of selling steel to a firm in Israel for the purposes of manufacturing weapons. This is one of the potential legal consequences that could result from Spain's ban of such deals. According to a statement, Judge Francisco de Jorge will lead the investigation against Sidenor CEO Jose Antonio Jainaga Gomez as well as two other executives. They are accused of smuggling drugs and being complicit in crimes against humanity and genocide. On November 12, they were called to testify. The court ruled that Sidenor...

NioCorp, a rare earths miner in Colorado, said Thursday that it was working with Lockheed Martin - a U.S. defence contractor - to develop an alloy of scandium and aluminium for military equipment. The program is funded by the Pentagon. NioCorp, based in Colorado, received $10 million in August from the Pentagon to develop a Nebraska mining facility that will produce scandium - one of 17 rare earths. Lockheed is an important supplier of weapons and fighter jets to the U.S. Military. NioCorp, Lockheed and other companies are using a portion of this funding to develop an aluminum and scandium...

This week, a delegation of Singaporean firms is visiting South Africa to explore partnership opportunities in manufacturing, logistics and consumer goods. Trade between the two countries has almost doubled in the last four years. Enterprise Singapore, Singapore's agency for trade and enterprise, stated that this mission was part of the Scale-Up Programme and aimed to link participating firms with South African counterparts, and potential partners, in a variety of sectors including agriprocessing and industrial supplies. "South Africa is already a close partner of Singapore, and there are many Singaporean firms operating in South Africa," Rahul Ghosh said on Thursday. He...

Two people familiar with this matter have confirmed that Germany's Thyssenkrupp is going to start giving India's Jindal Steel International greater access to the financial details of their Thyssenkrupp Steel Europa (TKSE), business, starting next week. Last month, Jindal Steel submitted an indicative offer for TKSE. TKSE is Europe's second largest steelmaker, after ArcelorMittal. Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel Lopez said on Monday that the talks were intense. People said that the deepening due diligence coincides the visit by a Jindal Steel delegation to TKSE headquarters in Duisburg in advance of the crunch negotiations planned for later this year. Thyssenkrupp declined to...

The company said that rebels who occupy Twangiza Mining’s gold concession located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have stolen at least 500 kg of bullion from May. It also accused some of its employees of assisting the theft. The looted gold, at current prices is worth approximately $70 million. The mine is in South Kivu, where M23 rebels, backed by Rwandans, staged an offensive lightning fast this year which allowed them to capture more territory than they ever had before. The mine was seized in May. Twangiza Mining, in response to questions about losses after M23 took over the...

The International Finance Corporation and Appian Capital Advisor, a private equity firm, have announced a $1 billion fund for critical mineral projects in Africa and Latin America. The fund will be anchored by a $100 million initial commitment from IFC (a member of World Bank Group), and focus on Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and Rare Earths. These are all vital for energy transition and digital technology. IFC has launched its first joint fund with a mining investor. This is a reflection of the growing interest among development finance institutions in attracting private capital to mining projects. Appian CEO Michael Scherb said...

Moody's, the global credit rating agency, downgraded Botswana's ratings to 'Baa1' (from 'A3') on Friday. The downgrade was attributed to the government's difficulties in adapting to the structural decline in the diamond sector and the increasing government debt. Moody's stated in a press release that "the economy remains heavily dependent on capital-intensive mining of diamonds; diversification efforts are lagging due to reform delays while climate shocks continue to persist." Botswana, long regarded as an African success story in economics, is now in a slump. This is due to the prolonged decline in the global market for diamonds, its main export....

After several local media outlets reported that he was under investigation for possible murder, the family of Mango founder Isak Andic said they were confident Jonathan was innocent. In a press release, the family stated that they "will continue to work with the authorities as it has been doing up until now." It also hopes that the process will be completed as quickly as possible, and that Jonathan Andic will be proven innocent. The company said that it would not provide any further comments at this time. COURT SAYS CASE IS NOT DIRECTED AT AN INDIVIDUAL La Vanguardia reported late...

Rio Tinto is preparing to ship 2 million metric tonnes of high-grade ore from its Simandou mine in Guinea by mid-November, according to three sources. This would be the very first shipment out of the massive mine that will reshape the global supply and pricing. Rio's third-quarter report, released on Tuesday, stated that SimFer, one of two mines in Simandou, had amassed 1,5 million tons of ore. The first ore was loaded onto rail transport back in October. Unspecified details were not provided by a spokesperson, but he said that the company was continuing to progress the project at "pace"....

The company announced on Thursday that Zhejiang Cobalt, a Chinese company, will begin producing lithium sulphate in the first quarter 2026 at its $400 million plant located in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is pushing for more local processing. A senior executive told a group of journalists that the newly-completed plant at Huayou’s Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Mine has a capacity of more than 50,000 metric tonnes of lithium sulphate per year. Lithium Sulphate is a product intermediate that can be refined to a battery grade material, such as lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. Henry Zhu, general manager of Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, told...

Official data revealed that Guinea's exports of bauxite grew by 23% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, despite heavy rains and regulatory obstacles. According to the data reviewed on Wednesday by the Ministry of Mines and Geology, shipments of the critical aluminum feedstock increased to 39.41 millions metric tons, from 32 million metric tons in Q3 of 2024. The bulk of the shipment was sent to China. Guinea, which is the second largest bauxite exporter in the world, shipped an average of 13.14 million tonnes per month in Q3, a 19% drop from the first...