Key Trends Shaping the Future of the Mining Industry in Africa
Welcome to your March edition of the Africa Bulletin.
This month's bulletin focuses on key trends shaping the future of the Mining industry in Africa. These trends are vital in the growth of the Mining industry in Africa. Due to the abundance and variety of crucial minerals, the industry needs to reset the standards in relation to exploring, extracting and trading in its minerals.
These key trends focus on various areas, including economic, political and social. In narrowing it down to these focus areas, the industry will reap the benefits from the sector, which has been elusive for decades.
We also look at the major business stories across Africa and how they affect their region, the continent and the globe. Closely related to these stories are reports that focus on Africa within the global private equity, energy, technology and mining.
You will also find our upcoming events, including the ALN Ready Business Roadshow webinar – Tanzania Edition. The ALN Ready Business Roadshow webinar is a unique series showcasing investment and business opportunities for investors looking into Africa. This is the first of its kind from a leading alliance of law firms, affirming that a ready investor is ready for business. This month, we hosted a successful Kenyan edition of the ALN Ready Business Roadshow webinar and launched the Kenya Investment Guide. Read more about the guide.
And as ever, we have selected news stories to help you navigate today's business world, providing a global perspective on the legal issues relevant to your industry.
We are ALN. One region, One vision, One ALN.
Top Story
The African mining industry is at a crossroads, facing both opportunities and challenges as it strives to sustainably meet the rapidly growing demands for mineral resources. The mining sector is critical to the continent’s economic development, providing employment and contributing significantly to the GDP of many African countries. According to Statista, Africa has abundant reserves of minerals and metals, including gold, diamond, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, coal, and copper spread out throughout the continent. Africa continues to be a major producer of many important mineral commodities for the world. Statista also estimates that over 30 percent of the world’s known mineral deposits are found in Africa, and these valuable resources have long been extracted and frequently exploited. Foreign investment is still quite attractive to the region...Read more.
Africa | Two African Banks Stake USD 16 Billion in Oil, and Gas Projects - About USD 16 billion is being invested in oil and gas projects across Africa by the African Export-Import Bank and the African Finance Corporation. This was recently disclosed at the Cape Town, South Africa African Refiners...Read more.
West Africa | EBID to Finance Green Projects to Support Sustainable Growth - The promotion of inclusive and sustainable growth in the West African economy. This is the purpose of the new green finance mechanism set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bank...Read more.
Egypt | Country Tops List of MENA Countries Sealing Deals with Startups in 2022 - The Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center revealed that Egypt topped the list of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region for its number of startup deals, coming in at 160...Read more.
Kenya | Fintechs Tipped to Drive Next Phase of Digital Banking Shift - Banks and financial technology firms have been tipped to deepen collaborations as customers continue to disrupt traditional banking models. Speakers at the seventh edition of Connected Banking Summit themed...Read more.
Mauritania | Consortium signs USD 34 Billion MoU for Hydrogen Project in Country - German project developer Conjuncta recently said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Mauritania, Egypt’s energy provider Infinity and the United Arab Emirates’ Masdar for a USD 34 billion green...Read more.
Namibia | Oil Exploration Shows Promise with Third Discovery - A recent announcement of the third oil discovery made in the offshore Orange Basin by Shell Namibia, Qatar Energy, and Total Energies brought Namibia’s petroleum industry back into the limelight. As a result of the recent...Read more.
Tanzania | State Kickstarts Contract Preparations for USD 30 Billion LNG Project - Global energy majors Shell and Equinor have officially started the contract preparations for the development, operation, and maintenance of a USD 30 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tanzania...Read more.
Uganda | Uganda Plans to Start Nuclear Power Generation By 2031 - Uganda has said it expects to start generating at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) from nuclear power by 2031 as it moves to diversify its sources of electricity and accelerate its energy transition, a key part of its climate change...Read more.
Reports
Bain & Company | Global Private Equity Report 2023
As extraordinary and resilient as the post-COVID-19 rally in global private equity proved to be, it was ultimately no match for the Fed. For the first six months of 2022, the industry extended 2021’s record-shattering burst of deal activity, despite persistent inflation, the invasion of Ukraine, and growing tensions with China. Then, in June, when US central bankers issued the first in a series of three-quarter-point interest rate hikes—and their colleagues worldwide followed suit—banks pulled back from funding leveraged transactions, and dealmaking fell off a cliff, pulling exit and fund-raising totals down with it. Given the heights from which they fell, buyout deal value (USD 654 billion), exits (USD 565 billion), and fund-raising (USD 347 billion) all finished 2022 with respectable totals in a historical context. But the sudden reversal marked the end of an upcycle that has endured (with a brief COVID brake tap) since 2010 when the industry emerged from the global financial crisis and produced a 12-year run of stunning performance.
Click here to download the full report.
IRENA | Planning and Prospects for Renewable Power North Africa
This report is part of International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) series on planning and prospects for renewable energy, focusing on renewable electricity generation in African power pools. Its context is the lack of a regional master plan for power system expansion in North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) and IRENA’s involvement in the search for energy transition pathways for the region. The report is based on the System Planning Test Model for North Africa (SPLAT-North Africa), developed by IRENA and built on publicly available data. SPLAT-North Africa can be used in future capacity-building events and by the region’s countries to conduct their analyses.
Click here to download the full report.
World Bank | Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs
All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. “Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs” shows that the broader use of productivity-enhancing digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support countries’ short-term objectives of post-pandemic economic recovery and their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest globally. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent use such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyse further productivity gains.
Click here to download the full report.
Africa Development Bank Group | Towards the Preparation of an African Green Minerals Strategy
As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, the transition away from fossil fuels is having a major impact on the minerals industry. Metals used in electrification, renewable energy generation, electric mobility and new forms of energy storage have become critical to these expanding low and no-carbon industries. Africa is endowed with many of the most important minerals, and the increased demand makes it imperative that stewardship of these resources be guided to maximise the benefits of their exploitation to the continent and its people. The African Natural Resources Management and Investment Centre (ANRC) within the African Development Bank and its partners, the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have initiated the development of an African Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS) to proactively engage with the new conditions flowing from the energy transition.