Archive for August, 2024

Afghanistan Announces Mining Deals Worth Over $1 Billion with Uzbekistan

Via Ariana News, a report on recent agreements between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has signed five mining agreements with Uzbekistan worth $1.15 billion. These were among 35 agreements and memorandums of understanding signed recently with Uzbekistan – MoUs worth $2.5 billion. The deals in the mining sector include the geological […]

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Hezbollah’s Shadow Bank and Lebanon’s Disaster Capitalism

Courtesy of Adam Tooze, commentary on Lebanon’s economic crisis: As the world weighs the horrifying scenario of a “big war” in the Middle East and the likely impact on the world economy, starting with the oil price, spare a thought for the people in the eye of the storm. Think particularly of the millions in […]

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Africa’s Copperbelt and the Atlantic

Via Geopolitical Futures, a quick summary of the Lobito Corridor, whose success depends on financing: The Lobito Corridor is a planned 1,850-km (1,150-mile) railway connecting the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Atlantic Ocean via Angola’s Port of Lobito, with an additional 500 km extension linking Zambia to the main route. Announced in September 2023, […]

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Botswana Discovers $40m Diamond as Masisi Pushes For New Deal With De Beers

Via The Africa Report, an article on how a massive new diamond find is adding fuel to the debate over how much value Botswana receives for its minerals: What might be the world’s second-largest diamond has been discovered in Botswana. It will likely add fuel to the fire in the debate over how much value […]

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China’s Port Power

Via The Wire, a report on a massive new Chinese-owned port in Peru that is set to extend the country’s influence in South America: Chancay Port Terminal, Peru. Credit: Presidencia del Consejo de Ministros del Perú via Flickr Five years ago, Chancay was just an ordinary tourist town about 50 miles from Peru’s capital, Lima, with its […]

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Suriname’s Unorthodox Plan To Finance The Protection of Its Forests

Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Suriname’s unorthodox plan to finance the protection of its forests by trading ‘sovereign carbon’: When Guyana’s president was asked by a BBC journalist earlier this year about the South American country’s oil exploration and associated carbon emissions, the exchange heated up. “Let me stop you right there,” […]

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ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.