Forget Lobito. Is West Africa’s ‘Liberty Corridor’ the Next Frontier for Trump’s Minerals Diplomacy?
December 31st, 2025
Via The Africa Report, a look at how the Trump administration is navigating a high-stakes influence battle between mining giants Ivanhoe Atlantic and ArcelorMittal over the strategic rail infrastructure project in Liberia designed to unlock West Africa’s massive iron ore deposits: The Donald Trump administration is caught in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar squabble between two mining […]
Read more »How China and the Gulf States are Shaping Central Asia’s Energy Transition
December 31st, 2025
Via East Asia Forum, an article on how China and the Gulf states are shaping Central Asia’s energy transition: China and the Gulf states are expanding renewable energy investment in Central Asia. Through complementary competition, they vie for influence while occupying distinct and often mutually supportive roles in clean energy projects, particularly in Kazakhstan and […]
Read more »Building Runways, Not Bridge: Qatar Charts A Different Path Into Africa
December 31st, 2025
Via The Africa Report, a look at how – as a politically palatable financier – Doha gains leverage by creating conference hubs linking the airways: In the great game of Gulf statecraft played out on African soil, the United Arab Emirates prefers concrete and cranes, snapping up ports from Berbera to Dar es Salaam. Saudi Arabia, seeking food […]
Read more »A Tiny U.S. Territory in the Pacific Doubles Down on a Giant Chinese Casino
December 31st, 2025
Via The Washington Post, a look at how an unfinished casino resort project on Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands raises questions about money laundering and ties to Chinese criminals: The beachfront casino built here by a Chinese mother-and-son duo a decade ago was billed as a $2 billion investment, a resort […]
Read more »The Wildcat Traders and US Contractors Piling into Pakistan’s Antimony
December 29th, 2025
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at the wildcat traders and US contractors piling into Pakistan’s antimony, a rare earth crucial for missiles, batteries and flame retardants: For years, the only buyers for the antimony Jabbar Khan sourced from wildcat traders in Afghanistan were secretive Chinese intermediaries, who bargained hard over the price. Now, […]
Read more »A Tiny Pacific Paradise Is Gaming the U.S.-China Rivalry Over Minerals
December 29th, 2025
Via the Wall Street Journal, a look at how the Cook Islands—population 15,000—are being courted by two superpowers as they hunt for rare earths, and could stand to reap the benefits: In October, a U.S. research vessel arrived in this remote South Pacific nation to capture high-definition images of the seafloor. A few weeks later, […]
Read more »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.