"We are the biggest bauxite producer in the world now… but we don't have any refineries built since colonial times... This will change"

🔸 Proven oil reserves in Namibia amount to approximately 15.1 billion barrels. Current production plans are projected at around 150,000 barrels per day, with first oil expected in 2029–2030.
🔸 The government's goal is to reach 500,000 barrels per day by the mid-2030s, which would place the country between Algeria and Qatar in terms of production levels.

Springfield Group is a Ghanaian energy conglomerate, one of the major indigenous players in Ghana’s petroleum sector. The group was founded by Ghanaian entrepreneur Kevin Okyere.

🔸 South Africa is already a world leader in the production of several minerals that the EU considers critical. It has the largest reserves of platinum group metals, is the largest producer of manganese and chromium, and is playing an increasingly important role in the extraction of vanadium and rare earth elements.

🔸 Oranto Petroleum is owned by Arthur Eze, a Nigerian oil entrepreneur and one of the most influential private players in upstream in West and Central Africa.

In particular, the agreements include:

🔸 Allocation of oil blocks in the DRC's Central Basin and Albertine Graben in the east to the Qataris. According to the plan, they are to be transferred to the state-owned company Sonahydroc, which will then develop them together with Amoc Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Qatar's Al Mansour Holding, headed by the cousin of the Emir of Qatar.

🔸 The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) acquired a $500 million stake in Canadian Ivanhoe Mines. The latter is developing several deposits in Africa's mineral-rich copper belt, including Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi mines

🔸 Al Mansour Holding will also develop Gateway City in Kasumbaleshwe on the border with Zambia, which is intended to be a new logistics and trade hub, making it easier to export extracted minerals.

🔸 The launch of Congo Pharma, a local enterprise for the production of medicines and medical equipment.

🔸 A program to build about 1.5 million affordable housing units in major cities.

🔸 The modernization of several airports, in particular N'Dolo Airport in Kinshasa.

🔸 Just a reminder:

The conflict arose because of Mali's intention to increase government revenues from gold mining by introducing a new Mining code in 2023 with increased taxes and a greater government share in mining projects. The government began to review old contracts across the entire sector - and the entire sector was not against it, except for one Barrick.

➡️ The background

The crisis began at British Lonmin's Marikana mine, where miners where some of employees demanded a base salary increase from about $400 to $1,200. An important factor was the competition between two South African mining trade unions - the NUM trade union, which traditionally comprised the majority of Lonmin's workers, refused to support the goal, considering it unattainable. However, NUM was suspected of having ties to the state at that time, so the workers listened to their competitors from the AMCU trade union, who promised the miners a higher salary, aiming to score points for themselves.