🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Cobalt
It's not easy to fight crime when you're involved.

🌐 As the DRC tries to curb illegal cobalt mining, the Congolese state owned Entreprise Générale du Cobalt reported its first 1000 tonnes of production from artisanal mines. Six years ago Kinshasa handed the company a monopoly on buying artisanal cobalt.

🔸 Officials present it as a turning point in the effort to clean up the sector. The company promises safer pits, eradication of child labour, environmental sustainability.

⏩ The 6-year result may sound solid until placed next to the real levels of artisanal cobalt that left Congo over the same period. In 2024 alone, artisanal miners in the DRC dug and sold up to 5,000 tonnes.

🔸 A further extension of the EGC’s oversight over the artisanal sector is much needed. However, it would inevitably collide with the interests of the Congolese elites.

🔸 Recent investigations have questioned the integrity of President Félix Tshisekedi’s relatives, linking certain members of the family to so called “cobalt looting cartels” operating on copper and cobalt concessions in the Lualaba region.

Devils Below

🇳🇬 Africa's Most Ambitious Oil Bribe
[ Budget Hole ]

When a person buys something at the price of X and sells it at the price of X2, this is called a business. It can be X3, even X4. X10 already starts to seem suspicious, especially if the buyer is the government. However, what about X500?

🌟 OPL 245 is a deep-water oil block in the Niger Delta. Estimates say it holds about 9 billion barrels of crude, close to a quarter of Nigeria’s proven reserves. In 1998-2011 it became an object of one of Africa's most ambitious bribery schemes.

It started in 1998, during the military era of General Sani Abacha, when the OPL 245 was acquiered by a company called Malabu Oil & Gas, owned by the then oil minister Dan Etete, for a miserable $20 million, of which he only paid around $2M.

A new government revoked Malabu’s OPL 245 licence in 2001 and reassigned the block to Shell, which triggered years of legal battles between Malabu, Shell (and later Eni) and the Nigerian state.

In 2011 Nigeria's new President Goodluck Jonathan pushed for a final solution. Malabu agreed to give up OPL 245 to the government for $1.092 billion. Shell and Eni in turn agreed to pay to the government the same $1.092 billion for the block, plus a $210 million bonus.

➡️The deal may seem unfair, as Dan Etete got the block almost for free and then sold it back to the state for $1.1B. In fact, it was even worse.

When Shell and Eni sent their money to the Nigerian government's account in JP Morgan, some obscure manipulations on the part of the then office holders took place - and the bank was instructed to transfer around $875 million to accounts controlled by Malabu.

➡️ Malabu did tried to return the money back to the officials - but not in the way it should have.

Once the money reached Malabu, Dan Etete began to cash it out - all in order to remunerate the country's top leadership for their support via his middleman entrepreneur Aliyu Abubakar. The money could have been intended for the then President Jonathan, the country's Attorney General, the Minister of Petroleum and the National Security Adviser.

The bribe case around OPL 245 has been brought before Italian, English and Nigerian courts. A criminal trial in Milan ended in 2021 with the acquittal of Shell, Eni and all managers. In London the High Court dismissed Nigeria’s claim against JPMorgan. In Abuja a court in 2024 discharged former Attorney General Mohammed Adoke and others having found the evidence not strong enough.

Across all of these cases, no senior official in Nigeria and no executive in the companies has received a final prison sentence for OPL 245. The oilfield still has no production.

#BudgetHole

Devils Below

🇹🇩 Chad: Competition Without Competitors

🌐 The Chinese are boasting of a whole new oil frontier that has opened up for them in Chad, with oil fields to expand, refineries to build and very few rivals left.

🔸 Chad has announced plans to double output from about 150,000 barrels a day and is leaning on China and the UAE to revive its oil industry, with Chinese CNPC planning to expand existing operations and build the country's second refinery, in addition to the existing Djermaya plant near N’Djamena.

⏩ Over the past fifteen years Chad has been scaring off its Western partners by endless reviews of taxes, contracts and control. From a consortium of Exxon, Chevron and Petronas, that used to make up the axis of Chad's oil industry in the 2010s, only Britain’s Savannah Energy remained by 2023, when its assets were nationalized.

🔸In contrast, Chinese actors have been willing to stay in this environment. CNPC built a refinery and pipelines with Chinese state bank loans, while CEFC China Energy even allegedly arranged a $2 million bribe for the then President Idriss Déby in return for oil rights.

🔸 In contrast to some of its neighbours, Chad has been utilizing "resource nationalism"-like considerations as an instrument for elites enrichment.

As a result, it now risks becoming dependent exclusively on the very partner whose record in the country and across the continent includes serious pollution cases, conflicts with local employees and numerous bribery scandals.

Devils Below

🇳🇪 Niger's New Uranium Posture

Paris apparently hears better from the sands of Arlit than from Niamey

🌐 In response to the recent complaints from the French media about the sale of 1,000 tons of uranium by Niger to Russia, Abdourahamane Tiani outlined to Paris and the world Niger's new approach to its uranium wealth.

🔸 During a visit to the Agadez region, Niger’s president Abdourahamane Tiani visited the SOMAÏR uranium site near Arlit, four months after the company was nationalized from the French company Orano.

⏩ Although without open reference to the cries of the Western media, the president's words contained an outline of the country's reviewed approach to nuclear fuel production and cooperation with the French:

🔸 Niger considers the nationalization of the SOMAÏR site irreversible;

🔸 The state is going to ensure the continuation of normal work at the site (which would cost some $88.6 million);

🔸 Niger is going to commercialize its yellowcake production.

🔸 The latter unequivocally means that Niger from now reasserts its right to choose partners in its uranium industry, regardless of what Paris and Orano may thinks.

For decades, French companies drew fuel for European reactors from Arlit while Niger's soil accumulated radioactive waste. The French presence had not translated into any domestic nuclear industry built on its own ore.

Devils Below

🇹🇷 Ottoman Empire Comes Back
Turkey's plans and projects for Africa's mineral wealth

Recently, a short remark by Turkey’s energy minister about completing the first phase of a gold project in Mali received media coverage so extensive, that it has become an icon reflecting how many still overlook Turkey's quiet encroachment upon Africa’s resource sector. That silence hides a much bigger story ready to unfold.

🔸 Today the list of Turkish projects that already produce something on African soil is still short, and includes only 3 countries where production lines are in place and in action - in Niger and Sudan Turkey's state-run company MTA digs gold, in Nigeria Ankara gets crushed stone.

⏩ The real weight of Turkish ambitions is seen the multitude of projects that are to come in the near future, linking Ankara to a wide arc of African states.

🔸 Turkish state and private actors are lining up a wave of new plays:

🔸 In Somalia, Turkish TPAO already runs offshore eploration, with the eye on oil and gas in Somali waters.
🔸 In Libya, the same company is also conducting a large offshore mapping project that could lead to Turkish drills in the central Mediterranean.
🔸 In Namibia ALP24 promotes oil and gas storage and exploration plans.
🔸 The same ALP24 seeks coal and diamond projects in Botswana, and copper and cobalt ventures in Zambia.
🔸 In Ethiopia, the Calik group has agreements to study gas development in the Ogaden basin and new gold projects.

🔸Alongside the resource deals Turkey promotes defence exports, training missions and energy services. On top of Ankara's military presence in Somalia come defense cooperation with Chad, energy projects in Senegal and Gambia.

Taken together, this is a slow and deliberate economic advance into Africa. Turkey is entering the continent quietly, step by step, and African resources are only one part of a wider strategic footprint that will be hard to ignore in a few years.

#InterestsAndAssets

Devils Below

🇪🇹 From Cans to Spacecrafts
In cooperation with Russia Ethiopia may unlock a batch of brand new industrial sectors

🌐 Ethiopia has signed a $1 billion deal with a Russian company Rusal to build a massive aluminium plant that would finally bring to life local metal production.

🔸 The plans outline capacity of 500,000 tonnes a year, with the first phase estimated at about $1 billion and a construction period of 3-4 years.

⏩ Having pushed Moscow out of its usual markets, Western countries turned Russian industrial groups into builders of processing capacity in new places, where the demand for metals is growing faster, including East Africa.

🔸 Until now Ethiopia had no large aluminium smelter. Local initiatives focused on much smaller projects, meant mainly to replace imported metal in construction.

🔸 A 500,000 tonne plant would move Ethiopia into the league of established African aluminium producers like Ghana Mozambique.

For Ethiopia this turns Moscow into a partner that is ready to bring industry in addition to simple trade. Russian companies that accept the risk are trying to posiyion themselves as reliable partners for those who aim to process more of resources at home.

Devils Below

💡 Resource Nationalism Index [ GUINEA ]

With the start of the Simandou iron mega-complex, Guinea is going to transcend its usual span of bauxite and gold exports. However, any diversification also means a new challenge and an endurance test for Guinea's resource policies.

Is the country prepared enough to embrace its strengthened clout in iron production? Let's figure out in our "Resource Nationalism Index" series.

The policies of Guinea in relation to its natural wealth are:

🔸 "Process It First" – 6/10 – Export of unprocessed ore is not formally banned, but Guinea's Mining Code requires companies to develop processing capacity for the minerals they extract. All bauxite producers must begin building alumina refineries in Guinea no later than 2027.

🔸 "Share With the State” – 0/10 – The state does not take a physical share of production + there are no mandatory domestic supply quotas

🔸 “We’re in Too!” – 7/10 – The state has the right to get 15% free-carried interest + an option to purchase up to an additional 20%, bringing potential total state ownership up to 35% - without any additional share reserved for local investors.

🔸 “The Money's Yours, the People Are Ours" – 6/10 – in each company the Deputy General Manager must be Guinean, and within 5 years from the start of operations the General Manager must also be Guinean. As of subsidiaries, at least 30% of all goods and services must be procured from Guinean companies.

🔸 “Just Pay Up" – 3/10 – Royalty on gold - 5% of production value, while royalty on bauxite is extremely low - around 0.075%.

🔸 "You Come – You Build" – 7/10 – Annual contributions are based on turnover: 0.5% for bauxite and iron ore, 1% for gold and other minerals.

🔸 “We’ll Do It Ourselves” – 6/10 – The government engages in investments via state-run SOGUIPAMI company, while maintaining some tax breaks and incentives to encourage local processing.

🔸 “Come Here, You Bast*rd!” – 5/10 – In 2016 artisanal gold output has been estimated at around $300 million, while artisanal diamond mining (“diamond triangle” - Kerouané, Kérouané, Beyla, Macenta) largely operates outside formal licensing.

Between extreme resource nationalism and wild capitalism, Guinea prefers to choose neither - remaining in the middle on the most parameters. The only aspect that negatively diverges from this tendency is the lack of requirements to transfer a fair part of production to the state or put it in the local market.

#ResourceNationalism

Devils Below

🇳🇬 US Pours Oil On Nigeria's Troubled Water

In between accusations of genocide, the Americans sell record volumes of oil to Nigeria

🌐 Crude shipments from the United States to Nigeria in the first 8 months of 2025 more than doubled compared with a year earlier.

🔸 Even though it remains a major producer itself, between February and August Nigeria imported 31.69 million barrels, compared to 15.79 million barrels in the same period of 2024.

⏩ For a country which itself produces around 1.7 million barrels of crude each day, rising crude imports show that the process of local processing build-up is not linear.

🔸 Nigeria still suffers from disruptions of local upstream supply chains. In late September 2025 Nigeria's flagship Dangote Refinery partly stopped selling petrol due to crude supply constraints on the part of the state-run NNPC oil corporation. On the top of this, recenlty Nigeria's Senate ad hoc committee has reported a disappearance of about $300 billion in crude proceeds since 2015.

🔸 Another source of supply shortage is oil exports, which remain more profitable for traders and producers than selling on the domestic market due to trading in dollars rather than in naira.

Currently Nigeria is moving through a difficult transition in which it needs to navigate and somehow reconcile elite interests, market mechanisms and the goals of national development.

Devils Below

🌐 Weekly News Digest on West & Central Africa’s Mineral Industries [ November 11 – November 17 ]

This was a week of investment announcements and artisanal mining.

💡Here are the key highlights:

🇨🇩 DR Congo
- State-owned Entreprise Générale du Cobalt reported its first 1000 tonnes of production from artisanal mines

- Around 40 people died in a mine accident

🇬🇭Ghana
- Villages in Ghana started to field their own patrols against poisonous illegal gold mining.

- The United Kingdom and Switzerland have "returned" to Ghana more than 130 artifacts of the Ashanti Kingdom's heritage

🇬🇳 Guinea
- Guinea’s main port of Conakry got almost paralysed because of the jump of traffic after the launch of Simandou complex

🇲🇱 Ethiopia
- In northern Ethiopia, a war-torn province of Tigray has turned into a multi-billion dollar illegal gold field

- Ethiopia has signed a $1 billion deal with a Russian company Rusal

🇳🇪 Niger
- Abdourahamane Tiani outlined Niger's new approach to its uranium wealth

🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Nigeria waits for investors to relaunch its 4 dying state-owned refineries

- Nigeria issued an arrest warrant for former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources

- Abuja decided against the imposition of a new 15% tax on fuel imports

- Crude shipments from the United States to Nigeria in the first 8 months of 2025 more than doubled compared with a year earlier.

🇸🇳 Senegal
- Senegal announced plans to build a national gas pipeline network by 2027

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
- Aliko Dangote has just pledged up to $1 billion investments in Zimbabwe.

#NewsDigest

Devils Below

Keeping Partners at Pipe's Length
[ Minerals In Numbers ]

How many oil and gas pipelines are there in Africa? ... and where do they lead?

⏩ The response is 16,000 kilometres - that is the approximate total length of all cross border oil and gas pipelines that start or end in Africa.

They include oil lines like Niger–Benin, Chad–Cameroon, Tazama and gas lines such as the West African Gas Pipeline, the Mozambique–South Africa line. A length sufficient to twice circle Pluto, or to two-way pipeline connection between South Africa and Tunisia, indefinitely moving oil back and forth.

Very cool, well done, we've build so much infrastructure - now what?

⏩ The interesting part starts when we look at where the pipes lead. Roughly half of those 16,000 kilometres move natural gas, much of it from Algeria and Libya under the Mediterranean to Europe. The rest are oil and product lines that connect a few coastal hubs to inland suppliers like Niger or South Sudan.

🔸 Most countries that produce oil and gas still lack infrastructure to ensure accessible domestic supply - that is, in many countries, both inland and coastal, there is no national gas and oil supply grids.

The pipeline maps are not just for infrastructure lovers. They define the way economies grow. When there is a pipe shipping gas to Europe and no pipes sending it to the nearest factory - guess where the industry will thrive?

#MineralsInNumbers

Devils Below