Africa

Every person involved in gold mining or trading must have been shaken when the gold price slumped in mid April, so it’s reassuring to hear that one well-respected investor, the Canadian financier, Frank Giustra, said recently that he has complete faith in the continuation of the bull run. When it comes to investment Giustra has been so right for so long that it’s encouraging to know he is on Endeavour Mining’s Strategic Advisory Board.

Since it was first discovered in the country in the 1920s, copper has been one of Zambia’s most important sources of income. Five years after its independence from British rule in 1964 Zambia was classified as a middle-income country, with its GDP, then among the highest of any African nation, buoyed by what where at the time soaring copper prices. The history of decline in Zambian copper production, as opposed to the growth that was witnessed for example in Chile over the same period, is well known.

To many, natural gas is thought of as being the most important energy source of the future. The abundance of natural gas coupled with its environmental soundness and multiple applications across all sectors, means that it will continue to play an increasingly important role in meeting demand for energy in the years to come.

The country, the world’s largest diamond producer, has long campaigned for its diamonds to be processed, sorted, marketed and sold from within its own borders. The auction was conducted by the government-owned Okavango Diamond Company.

Later in the year, diamond giant De Beers, which owns the country's main mining firm with the government, will also move its sales to Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. Last year, the company moved its rough stone sorting operation, which had been based in London for nearly 80 years, to Botswana.

Everyone agrees that diamonds are special. De Beers is unlike other mineral extraction businesses in that, while it is involved in the familiar geological and feasibility work followed by mining and beneficiation, it follows that up with the production and marketing of a luxury end product. It deals in both rough diamonds and finished gemstones, but while diamond may be chemically simple, De Beers recognises 12,000 different categories of rough diamond alone – and that is before they are polished, cut, and set.

The company will pay $1.52 billion for US firm Marathon Oil Corporation’s ten percent stake in the deepwater block. It comes after Sinopec purchased a five percent stake in the field from Total in 2011.

Sinopec, Asia's biggest oil refiner, said that the Angolan block has proven and probable reserves of 533 million barrels of oil. The deal is still subject to approval by Chinese and Angolan governments.

BASF, the world’s leading chemical company launched its new laboratory for mining on June 23 in Johannesburg. The new lab is based at MINTEK, the South African mineral research organization.MINTEK is one of the world’s leading technology organizations specializing in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy.

BASF, the world’s leading chemical company launched its new laboratory for mining on June 23 in Johannesburg. The new lab is based at MINTEK, the South African mineral research organization.MINTEK is one of the world’s leading technology organizations specializing in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy.

“Gold is a most conservative and passive investment, but the same cannot be said of gold mining in emerging markets. To succeed here a company must be flexible and on the move. Its management must be adept and have a keen eye for untapped value.”