The US Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC’s) Board of Directors approved the provision of up to $150 million in financing to Twigg Exploration and Mining—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia-based Syrah Resources Limited—to fund investments in the company’s graphite mining and processing operation in Balama, Mozambique. (Earlier post.) The DFC loan is... Read more →

The Nikkei reports that Japan and the UK are set to make joint investments in critical minerals in Africa and other places. The two countries will also establish a framework for discussing economic security at the ministerial level, with a focus on supply chains. The two countries reportedly aim to... Read more →

Rio Tinto and the Simfer joint venture (Simfer) reached an important milestone by concluding key agreements with the Republic of Guinea (West Africa) and Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) on the trans-Guinean infrastructure for the world class Simandou iron ore project. Simandou is home to the last known, largest and richest... Read more →

Africa’s mined lithium production output is set to increase more than ten-fold this decade, according to Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast. This will increase the region’s strength in the supply of critical minerals beyond cobalt, which the continent has historically dominated. Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast shows that the region is expected to account... Read more →

Casterra Ag Ltd., an integrated castor cultivation solution company and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. signed a framework agreement to sell seeds of its proprietary castor varieties to one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies for cultivation in specific African territories. Initial purchase orders, valued at an aggregate... Read more →

Outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is commissioning the 650,000 BPD Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant today. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which covers an area of approximately 2,635 hectares—about the six times the size of Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria—is expected to be Africa’s largest oil refinery and the world’s... Read more →

E-Tech Resources, a rare earth exploration and development company developing its Eureka Rare Earths Project in Namibia, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire an 85% interest in exclusive prospecting license 8748 (EPL 8748). EPL 8748 is located in the Erongo Mining Corridor of Namibia which lies adjacent to,... Read more →

Elcora Advanced Materials has begun operations on the 16 km² manganese mining concession in Morocco for which it had acquired exclusive rights earlier. (Earlier post.) The SGS-certified African Laboratory for Mining and Environment (AFRILAB) team evaluated onsite that already extracted Manganese (Mn) piles contain about 5,500 metric tonnes of manganese... Read more →

Poland-based Hynfra has signed a framework cooperation agreement with Amarenco MENA, a major developer of renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa and part of Amarenco Group. The strategic partnership is aimed at building infrastructure for the production of hydrogen and its derivatives, primarily ammonia, using electrolysis... Read more →

Volvo Trucks has delivered its first heavy electric truck to Rabat, Morocco. The customer is the refuse collection company Arma, and this is the first heavy battery-electric truck from a global manufacturer to be in commercial operation in Africa. The truck is a Volvo FE Electric, one of six all-electric... Read more →

Elcora Advanced Materials has signed, through its Ermazon SARL wholly owned subsidiary, a binding agreement with exclusive long-term mining production rights and option to purchase a 16 km² manganese mining concession in Morocco. This manganese deposit had been mined until a few years ago when COVID rules prevented further development.... Read more →

Canada-based battery materials company Elcora Advanced Materials has received, through its Ermazon SARL wholly owned subsidiary (purchased in December 2021), a manganese exploitation license from the Moroccan government for the Atlas Fox Deposit in the country. This license allows Elcora to mine, extract, process and sell manganese from its 16... Read more →

The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the bp-operated Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has started its journey towards the project site off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal in West Africa. GTA—a bp-Kosmos partnership—is an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project based on... Read more →

The US Department of State released the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on electric vehicle battery value chains signed by the United States on 13 December 2022, during the Africa Leaders Summit. Through this MOU, the United States will support the commitment between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and... Read more →

Africa can produce 50 million tons of green hydrogen a year by 2035, according to a new study by the European Investment Bank (EIB), International Solar Alliance and the African Union, with the support of the Government of Mauritania, HyDeal and UCLG Africa. Green hydrogen is economically viable at €2/kg... Read more →

bp signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Egypt under which bp will explore the potential for establishing a new green hydrogen production facility in the country. The MoU was signed by bp, Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), the... Read more →

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) Ministry of Hydrocarbons signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2022 Conference & Exhibition to develop existing synergies across their respective upstream, downstream, energy infrastructure and logistics sectors. The... Read more →

UTM Offshore signed an agreement for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for Nigeria’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility with engineering firms KBR, JGC Corporation and Technip Energies. The FLNG facility will have a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) nameplate production capacity of 1.2 million metric ton per annum and... Read more →

bp has successfully loaded the first LNG cargo from Mozambique’s offshore Coral Sul FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas) facility, the country’s first LNG project and first floating LNG facility deployed in the ultra-deep waters of the African continent. FLNG vessels are floating LNG production, storage and offloading units. The Coral... Read more →

At this year’s Africa Aerospace & Defence (AAD) expo at AFB Waterkloof in Centurion, Rheinmetall AG is presenting turnkey, mobile modular solutions for producing, storing and transporting CO2-free hydrogen. The mobile solution offered by Group subsidiary Rheinmetall Denel Munition in South Africa assures climate-neutral energy security for stationary and mobile... Read more →

Anglo American plc unveiled a prototype of the world’s largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck designed to operate in everyday mining conditions at its Mogalakwena PGMs (platinum group metals) mine in South Africa. The 2MW hydrogen-battery hybrid truck, generating more power than its diesel predecessor and capable of carrying a 290-tonne... Read more →

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) can leverage its abundant cobalt resources and hydroelectric power to become a low-cost and low-emissions producer of lithium-ion battery cathode precursor materials, according to a new study on a unified African supply chain by BloombergNEF (BNEF). The BNEF study—undertaken at the behest of... Read more →

Air pollution was responsible for 1.1 million deaths across Africa in 2019, with household air pollution—driven largely by indoor cookstoves—accounting for 697,000 fatalities (64%), while increased outdoor air pollution claimed 394,000 lives (36%), a team of researchers led by Boston College and the UN Environment Programme report in an open-access... Read more →

A team of researchers from Sasol and the Catalysis Institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has made advancements in the use of commercial iron catalyst, produced cheaply and at large scale at Sasol’s Secunda plant, which would enable conversion of unavoidable or biogenically-derived carbon dioxide (CO2) and green... Read more →

Germany’s Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek and Director General Obeth M. Kandjoze of Namibia’s National Planning Commission agreed to establish a hydrogen partnership between Germany and Namibia and signed a Joint Communiqué of Intent (JCoI). The global race for the best hydrogen technologies and the best sites for hydrogen production... Read more →

Australia-based Walkabout Resources, an Africa-focused energy minerals developer, announced that its Tanzania Lindi Jumbo flake graphite project had progressed into the construction phase, with the CRDB-approved Independent Project Manager completing site visits and bulk earthmoving contractor TNR commencing mobilization. Walkabout Resources signed a US$20-million loan agreement with Tanzania’s CRDB bank... Read more →

Fastmarkets reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has banned the export of copper and cobalt concentrate. Fastmarkets confirmed with three companies operating copper and cobalt mines in DRC that they all received the notice, although the effective date of the order is not mentioned and trucks carrying the... Read more →

In a first for the African continent, the Volkswagen Brand has launched a pilot project in partnership with Siemens to test the feasibility of electric mobility in an African country. The pilot project, which will form part of Volkswagen’s operations in Rwanda, was officially announced today by Thomas Schäfer, CEO... Read more →

Demand for cobalt has been on the increase due to its many applications. The metal is a crucial component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for smartphones and electric cars. Around 60% of the world’s cobalt supply comes from the mineral-rich Katanga Copper belt, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Researchers... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) agreed to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development. After having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on 6 February 2017 (earlier post), Toyota and Suzuki have been pursuing concrete forms... Read more →

The Volkswagen brand has founded “Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda”, a company based in Rwanda. The objective is to provide modern integrated mobility services in Africa in future. As part of its worldwide regionalization strategy, Volkswagen is planning to expand its business presence significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Going forward, the brand... Read more →

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and partners will present their new prototype of an electric four-wheel drive utility vehicle designed for Africa—the aCar— at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt next month. The aCar is designed for passenger and cargo transportation and is also of interest... Read more →

Volkswagen is taking a further step to develop market potentials in Africa. The Hon. Francis Gatare, Director of the Rwanda Development Board, and Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Group South Africa, this week signed a memorandum of understanding for a new integrated mobility concept in Kigali in the presence of... Read more →

Pregnant women, children and those with medical conditions in The Gambia—one of Africa’s smallest, poorest countries—may have better access to healthcare through an expansion of a Ford Smart Mobility pilot program. Ford has equipped 50 motorcycles serving Riders for Health with sensor technology so the medical services group can collect... Read more →

Power and torque curves for stock and performance-tuned Focus ST with 2.0L I-4 EcoBoost. Click to enlarge. Ford is now offering EcoBoost engines in all of its high-performance nameplates—from Fiesta ST to Mustang—enabling a new kind of aftermarket tuning. Modifying engine performance can be accomplished with hand-held programmers that adjust... Read more →

The new Touran. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen introduced the next generation of its popular Touran MPV at the Auto Mobil International (AMI) in Leipzig, Germany (10-18 April). VW has sold 1.13 million units of the Touran to date. In Germany, it currently holds a market share of nearly 50% in... Read more →

Optimal Energy’s Joule. Click to enlarge. Optimal Energy, the Cape Town, South Africa-based company that unveiled the Joule full battery-electric multi-purpose urban passenger vehicle to the world at the Paris Motor Show in 2008 (earlier post), plans to have pilot fleets on the road in South Africa and globally from... Read more →

Italy-based oil and gas major Eni will invest US$3 billion in the Republic of Congo over the next four years, generating an expected equity production of 150 million barrels of oil equivalent from tar sands and biodiesel production. Eni reached an agreement with the government for the exploration and exploitation... Read more →

Green Star biodiesel reactor heading to South Africa. Green Star Products has signed an agreement with De Beers Fuel Limited of South Africa to build 90 biodiesel reactors. Each of the biodiesel reactors will be capable of producing 10 million gallons of biodiesel each year for a total production capacity... Read more →

Sunday Independent. The South African government may consider imposing penalties to slow the rapid growth in sales of SUVs and off-road vehicles, which have continued to rise despite soaring fuel prices, according to Nhlanhla Gumede, the chief director of hydrocarbons in the department of minerals and energy. The government had... Read more →

Sudan. Darfur is in the west. OPEC has invited Sudan to become a full member of the oil cartel, according to Sudan’s official news agency. The invitation came in a letter from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),... Read more →