Tag Archives: mining

Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …

Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | Rebels have wanted to kill him, NGOs accuse him of exploitation and Chinese newcomers have rattled his Congo mining empire, but George Forrest, one of Africa’s biggest businessmen, remains unbowed. The head of the Forrest Group, which is worth an estimated $800 million (650 …

Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In global markets the price of cobalt, a mineral used in batteries for high-tech products from iPhones to Tesla electric cars, has nearly tripled to $81,500 a tonne in two years. But in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produced two-thirds of the global …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The world’s biggest producer of cobalt, a key ingredient in modern batteries, plans a five-fold increase in tax on the commodity as part of an overhaul of its mining laws, industrial sources said Friday. The Democratic Republic of Congo would impose a tax of 10 …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | Renewed optimism about South Africa’s mining future coursed through the industry this week, focused on hopes of pro-business reforms under the ruling party’s new leadership. The world’s largest mining investment conference started in Cape Town on Monday, as the ANC party met to …

THIS WEEK: Salim Saleh under fire over sand mining Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gen Salim Saleh, national coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation and President Museveni’s brother has been criticized for his comments, encouraging the various sand mining activities happening in Lake Victoria. Saleh told environmentalists to stop harassing Mango …

Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Thousands of people staged a protest Friday in an impoverished Moroccan city over the latest fatality in the region’s “mines of death”, the third such victim since December, witnesses said. The protest was staged outside the morgue of the hospital in the northeastern town of …

Theunissen, South Africa | AFP | All 955 gold miners trapped underground for more than a day in South Africa after a power cut were rescued unharmed on Friday, to the joy of waiting relatives. “Everybody’s out,” mine spokesman James Wellsted told AFP, adding that there were no deaths or …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | About 950 gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine’s owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger. The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said a massive power outage caused by a storm had …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | As demand for batteries drives a surge in the price of cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo is gearing up to overhaul its mining regulations to harvest more profit from the coveted metal. The global boom for smartphones and electric cars has pushed up the …