Petroleum / Mining in Guinea
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CHINA, 2017/09/13
The Republic of Guinea will be the recipient of a US$20 billion loan from the People’s Republic of China in exchange for concessions on its significant bauxite ore reserves.
According to reporting yesterday by Reuters, the loan will be disbursed over twenty years. The loan will be guaranteed by in-country projects 125 miles northeast of Conakry at Boffa inclunding China Power Investment Corp’s (CPI) planned alumina refinery, a bauxite mine operated by the Aluminium Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), and a bauxite-mining project operated by China Henan International Cooperation Group.
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CHINA, 2017/09/13
China agreed on Wednesday to loan Guinea $20 billion over almost 20 years in exchange for concessions on bauxite, an ore of aluminum which the West African country has in abundance, the mines minister said.
The projects guaranteed by the loan included China Power Investment Corp’s (CPI) planned alumina refinery and Aluminium Corp of China’s (601600.SS) (Chalco) bauxite mine and an extra bauxite project by China Henan International Cooperation Group, all of them in the northwestern town of Boffa.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04
Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1.
Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year.
The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
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CHINA, 2016/10/31
Rio Tinto announced on Friday it had agreed to sell its stake in the giant Simandou iron ore project in Guinea for up to $1.3bn to Chinalco, in a deal that could see the Chinese group take on development of the world’s largest untapped resource of the steelmaking ingredient.
The Anglo-Australian mining company’s planned sale of its 46.6 per cent stake in the Guinea project marks an admission of defeat two decades after it persuaded the then dictator Lansana Conté to grant rights to prospect a mountainous zone.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11
Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
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GUINEA, 2013/06/20
Guinea's controversial mining reforms have landed the country with a 'high risk' rating for resource nationalism. But supporters believe the changes are well-conceived, equitable and necessary to both investors and the national.
Resource nationalism is high on investors’ agendas worldwide. “Regulation and government influence is an issue globally in natural resources, and that has only been exacerbated because of the all of leverage in the system,” says Rajat Kohli, chief of mining and metals at Standard Bank.
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GUINEA, 2013/06/20
West Africa could be the next large supply region for iron ore globally, and Simandou is one of the world’s biggest deposits of untapped iron ore, but the infrastructure - and politics - have proven a challenge. On Wednesday, Guinea’s mining minister, Mohamed Lamine Fofana, admitted Rio Tinto would miss the 2015 production target for Simandou due half to infrastructure challenges.
But Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé, overruled Mr Fofana on Friday, insisting there was no change in the timeline. “2015 remains our objective. The minister has spoken in his own name, he didn’t speak in Guinea’s name, and I told him so,” said President Condé at a roundtable at Chatham Home in London. “If it turns out to be impossible, obviously we will have to be realistic. However, we should keep a long-term perspective and try to continue to pursue our goals.”
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GUINEA, 2013/04/10
Guinea has amended its mining code to reduce some taxes in an effort to improve the investment climate, as mining investors and major producers become increasingly wary of large-ticket projects in difficult locations.
Mining firms have since last year frozen billions of dollars’ worth of planned investments in the West African national, the world’s top supplier of bauxite and home to rich iron ore reserves, citing fiscal uncertainty and political turmoil.
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BOTSWANA, 2012/12/25
World gas request is projected to reach 3,460.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 3,341.4 bcm in 2012. North America's gas consumption is estimate to reach 890.3 bcm in 2013, equivalent to 25.7% of world request. It would be followed by Asia & Australia with 720.8 bcm (20.8%), Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States with 587.4 bcm (17%), Western Europe with 533 bcm (15.4%), the Middle East with 445.7 bcm (12.9%),
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GUINEA, 2012/12/09
Guinea may complete a review into the $10 billion iron-ore joint venture between Vale SA (VALE3) and BSG Resources Ltd before the end of the first quarter of 2013, the country’s Mines Minister Mohamed Lamine Fofana said today.
Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore exporter, bought a 51 % stake in the venture to develop the Simandou project in the west African country in 2010. The operation was put on hold previously this year amid government interventions and uncertainty over the building of a new port and railway.
