Via Fast Markets, an article on how Africa’s first transcontinental rail network, known as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to eventually connect almost the entire regional copper-cobalt belt with additional links across sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to break ground early in 2026: The project will link Angola and Zambia by rail for the first […]
Read more »Via Bloomberg, a report on US support for African infrastructure aimed at countering Chinese influence in the region: Twice a week, a cargo train groaning under hundreds of tons of copper concentrate pulls into the Angolan port of Lobito from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The locomotive is made by Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corp. but many of […]
Read more »Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a report on the UAE’s billions of dollars of investment into Africa’s mines, ports and other projects: Across the world, the U.S., China and Russia are rubbing up against each other as Beijing and Moscow try to establish a new international order. The tiny United Arab Emirates is looking closer […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Economist, a look at how China is tightening its grip on the world’s minerals: To decarbonise the global economy and build the data centres needed for ever smarter artificial-intelligence models, the world will need lots of minerals. China wants first dibs. Last year its companies ploughed roughly $16bn into mines overseas, not including minority […]
Read more »Via the Center for Strategic and International Studies, commentary on the two new African railway projects: There has been a lot of talk lately about trains in southern Africa. Driven in part by the race for critical minerals, the United States and China are seemingly backing rival railroads to secure access to 70 percent of […]
Read more »Via Bloomberg, an article on Zambia’s economic growth forecast: Economic growth forecast for 2024 remains unchanged at 2.3% Dry spell is weighing on tax collections, public finances Zambia’s economy will probably grow at its fastest pace in 13 years in 2025 as it bounces back from the worst drought in more than a century. Gross domestic product […]
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