Burkina Faso's mines minister Alpha Oumar Dissa faces questions from investors at an upcoming meeting about reforms in the country's mining sector. The mining registry has remained closed for over six months as the government reviews concessions. Mining companies are worried about provisions in the new mining code being enacted, including possibly higher royalty rates and taxes. They also fear a new tax to fund local mining development could negatively impact their profits. The future implementation of the local development fund is another concern for miners.

1. Africa/Europe Mandatory checks
on mineral exports NP.2
Mozambique Former minister
Abreu's clan tightens hold on
mines NP.3
Mali Funding remains elusive
for Great Quest phosphate
project NP.5
Africa Vincent Mascolo
in new push to raise his
industry profile N P.6
Burkina Faso
Dissa’s uphill
fight to win
back the mining
community’s
heart
InameetingtobeheldinaposhParishotel
onDec.7-8withBurkinaFaso’sdonors,mines
ministerAlphaOumarDissawon’tbeable
to sidestep questions that worry investors
aboutthefutureofhiscountry’sminingsec-
tor.Theinvestorshadhopedtoquestionhim
inLondonattheMinesandMoneyandInves-
ting in African Mining conferences in late
November but he didn’t show up (see our
alert here). They wish that the transition
period following regime change, already
completedonthepoliticalside,willgiverise
to concrete results in mining. But they fear
reforms could be too sweeping.
Land registry still closed. Over six
months after the land registry was shut
down by the new government of prime
minister Paul Kaba Thieba in order to
rid it of concessions awarded irregularly
during the presidency of Blaise Com-
paore ( AMI 371), the land registry
remains stubbornly closed.
That means new rights can’t be awarded
to those who’ve applied for them or to
foreign companies anxious to set up ope-
rations in the country. A parliamentary
reportongovernanceintheminingindustry
publishedattheendofOctober( AMI379)
certainlydidn’treassurecompanies:legis-
lators want the awarding of permits to be
suspendeduntilDec.31ofnextyear.Com-
missioned by parliament’s speaker, Salif
Diallo,whoisclosetopresidentRochMarc
Christian Kabore, the report will be scru-
tinized by Dissa and his men.
Enactment decrees stir concern. Another
factorofconcernamonginvestorsisexactly
whenthenewminingcodewillgointoforce.
Adopted in 2015 by Parliament, it is being
heldupuntildecreesenactingitsmeasures
aresigned.Notsignedyet,thedecreeshave
been ready since September.
Mining operators are also worried by the
actualconsequencesofthenewlegislation
which they deem less favorable than the
previouscode.Manythinkitwasdraftedin
haste during the political transition under
pressure from the World Bank, which has
madeitsfinancialassistancesubjecttothe
adoptionofanewminingcodeamongother
measures.Alotofcompaniesfearaboutthe
royalty rate they will have to pay to export
their goods. It still hasn’t been fixed and
they worry it could be lifted to 5%, which
theydeemtoohigh.Butoperatorsalsofret
aboutthetaxestheywillhavetopayifthey
produce more than expected.
Question over local development fund.
Theminersareequallyfearfulaboutabrand
newtaxaimedatfinancingthelocalmining
development fund ( AMI 376). Set at 1%
ofacompany’smonthlyturnover,theope-
ratorsfearitcouldhittheirbottomline,and
particularlybecauseitmightberetroactive
to 2015 when the creation of the fund was
adopted.
To force the government’s hand the min-
ingcompaniesarethreateningtoreduceor
even freeze their “social responsibility”
budget, believing that measures they ear-
marked for local communities will now be
initiated by the new fund.
The law stipulates that 50% of the funds’
revenue must go to the finance ministry
whiletheremaining50%istobehandedto
anewcommittee.Butexactlyhowthatcom-
mitteewillsubsequentlydistributemoney
todifferentcommunitiesremainsunclear.
Theminingcompaniessaythere’sariskthat
aidforthedevelopmentoflocalcommuni-
tiescouldvanishbecauseofthenew“devel-
opment” funds.
Snapshots
Guinea SMB sets to work
on relinquished AMR area
For some days now Societe
Miniere de Boke (SMB) has been
turning out bauxite in new territory:
namely, a zone relinquished by the
French concern Alliance Miniere
Responsable (AMR). The company
in question applied for a conces-
sion and its request was approved
by mines minister Abdoulaye
Magassouba in early November.
Now, it thus finds itself obliged to
relinquish50%ofthenewproperty.
Already active in the Boke region,
SMB had been seeking for several
months to expand its operating
zone to a maximum. Its Chinese
shareholders, Shandong Weiqiao
Aluminum & Electricity Co and
Winning Logistics Africa Co
greatlyappreciateGuinea’sbauxite
which they ship back to China and
its ore-hungry industrial consu-
mers. SMB’s quest to expand
recently stirred tension with the
IndianfirmDynamicMining,which
was also ordered to relinquish 50%
of its concessions to the govern-
ment ( AMI 377 and P.4).
Ivory Coast Teranga
plants flag on
Mimran's territory
In early November, the Canadian
explorer Teranga Gold Corp regis-
teredasubsidiaryinAbidjan,Teranga
Exploration(IvoryCoast).Thenew
affiliate of the firm run by a former
Barrick Gold executive, Richard
Young, will manage exploration on
the gold licenses owned in Ivory
Coast by David Mimran, who holds
18.26% of Teranga ( AMI 379).
Mimran, a French businessman and
chief executive of Grands Moulins
d’Abidjan,foundedtheminingjunior
Miminvest in 2014 ( AMI 366)
which now owns several licenses in
Ivory Coast. Very close to Ivorian
president Alassane Ouattara and
his wife, Dominique Ouattara,
Mimran will no doubt throw his sup-
port behind Teranga’s operations in
thecountry.Terangaisalreadyhighly
active in another country in which
Mimran does business notably
throughGrandsMoulinsdeDakar,
Senegal.TheCanadianconcerncur-
rently operates the Sabodala gold
mine in that country ( AMI 376).
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3811/6
Government Strategies Exploration-Production Funding Who's Who
published by
Nº381
Paris, december 6, 2016
The Power Brokers and their Connections

2. africa/Europe Mandatory checks on
mineral exports
Thenewswillnodoubtgodownbadlywith
miningandmetallurgicalconcernsinAfrica,
and well beyond Congo-K and the Great
Lakes area at that. A compromise struck in
Strasburg by the European Commission
and the European Council on Nov. 22 is
goingtoforceimportersintheEU,andpar-
ticularly smelters and refiners of gold, tin,
tantalumandtungsten,toconductinvestiga-
tions into their suppliers who operate in
conflict areas.
The aim of the exercise is to prevent such
imports from financing armed groups.
However, only raw imports are concerned.
Recycled metals and existing European
stocksandbyproductsaretobeexempted.
The legislation, which will be put to the
European Parliament in early 2017, is to
comeintoforceonJan.1,2021.Itisexpected
that 95% of the minerals in question will be
concernedbytheverificationprocess,known
as “reasonable diligence”.
While the legislation could well make life
harderforimportersitwillclearlybeaboon
to consultants who are to carry out the dili-
gence. The Commission is to soon issue a
call for bids to pick authorized experts.
Severalassociationsspecializingindenounc-
ingthetrafficinconflictmineralsarethinking
oftakingonthemantleofconsultants.Among
themistheInternationalPeaceInformation
Service in Antwerp. Some of its members
already took part in the work of United
Nations panels deciding on sanctions.
Mines on the map: railways, roads ports
Nigeria Construction giant PW Group
makes push into mines
A subcontractor that wins a lot of
government work in Nigeria, the
Irish-Nigerian firm PW, is getting in
early on the Agbaja iron project.
Enjoying a dominant position in Nigeria’s
construction branch, PW Group hadn’t
been particularly involved locally in mines
up to now even though it is highly active
in the sector in Ghana and Sierra Leone,
particularly on behalf of AngloGold
Ashanti.
Starting in 2015, however, PW began talks
with Kevin Joseph, managing director of
Australia’s Kogi Iron concerning an iron
project it is mounting in Agbaja.
The upshot was an MoU in mid-November
providing for PW to build a 36 km road link-
ing the future mine to main highway. PW
should also build the mine’s processing plant,
storage gear for ore and power installations.
PW also expects to be involved in the trans-
portation of coal to generate the plant and
the distribution of the iron billets.
Guinea Secrets talks on Simandou Boffa
A delegation from the Chinese firm
Chinalco stopped off in Conakry between
Nov. 18-22 for talks with Guinea’s govern-
ment. The aim of the deliberations was to
specifythewaysandmeansofrestructuring
theSimandouironprojectandtheconditions
of the sale of the bauxite blocks of Boffa,
Santou and Houda to Aluminum
CorpofChina(Chalco),asubsidiary
of Chinalco.
DuringatripbyGuineanpresident
Alpha Conde to Beijing in October
( AMI 378), the sale of Rio Tinto’s stake
inSimandoutoChinalcohadbeenconfirmed.
Duringthatsamevisit,CondegaveChinalco
six months to complete its feasibility study
on Boffa and thus decide definitively on
whether to embark on the project.
WithregardsSimandou,thetransitionperiod
concerningthetransferofrightsbetweenRio
Tinto and Chinalco will begin at the end of
next April and wind up at end in October.
As for Boffa, Chalco’s CEO, Li Wangxing,
met with mines minister Abdoulaye
Magassouba on Nov. 22. He asked
theministertoensurehisgroupwould
have exclusive rights to mine bauxite
in the area in return for building infra-
structuretoexporttheore.
While waiting for Chinalco’s final verdict,
Guinea’s government has decreed a four
month suspension of any talks with other
companies potentially interested in taking
over the bauxite project.
Guinea
SMB Chinese undertake sweeping
survey for new resources
In late November the Societe Miniere de Boke
(SMB) and its Chinese partner, Winning Alliance
Ports (WAP), penned an agreement with Guinea’s
government on conducting a geophysical survey
of mineral resources across the entire country.
The agreement was signed by SMB’s chief,
businessman Fadi Wazni, mines minister
Abdoulaye Magassouba and the managing
director of Soguipami (Societe Guineenne du
Patrimoine Minier), Ahmed Kante. The survey,
which is to cover both the onshore and offshore,
will help the mines ministry create new
concessions to explore and SMB-WAP to find
fresh areas to mine additional bauxite for the
ever strong Chinese market (see P.1).
Congo-B
New PM Badibanga has strong
focus on mines
Named prime minister of Congo-K by president
Joseph Kabila in mid-November, Samy
Badibanga has far more expertise in mining than
his predecessor, Augustin Matata Ponyo. Holding
two degrees from establishments specializing in
diamonds in Antwerp, the Hoge Raad voor
Diamant and the International Gemological
Institute, Badibanga began his career as an
adviser to a Belgian diamond company with
Lebanese roots, Arslanian Freres, concerning its
operations in Congo-K. The new prime minister
subsequently worked for BHP Billiton in the
country before heading up several local joint
ventures the latter group formed: Lubilanji
Mining, in which Societe Miniere de Bakwanga
(MIBA) was also involved, and Samex Trading.
Elsewhere, Badibanga was a member of the
technical panel of the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) for Congo-K. In 2006,
he founded - and still chairs - the Federation des
Explorateurs et Extracteurs (FEE), an
organization that promotes good governance in
the natural resources sector in Congo-K. He can
be expected to play a strong hand in the revival of
MIBA ( AMI 380) and the future of the Tenke
Fungurume copper project ( AMI 380), issues
of prime importance at present.
Mauritania
Mohamed Ould Abdel Fettah
seeks Saudi investments
On a trip to Jeddah in mid-November,
Mauritania’s oil, energy and mines minister
Mohamed Ould Abdel Fettah held lengthy talks
with his Saudi counterpart, Khaled Bin Abdel
Aziz Al Faleh and with the chief of the state-
owned mines company, Ma’aden (Saudi Arabian
Mining Co), Khaled Bin Saleh Al Mudaifer.
Several Saudi firms were tempted in the past to
invest in Mauritania. Fettah tried to persuade the
government in Riyadh to bolster its position in
the country.
breaking
news
sent on
Nov. 29
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3812/6
Government Strategies FundingExploration-Production Who's Who

3. West African gold rush
Mozambique
Former
minister
Abreu's clan
tightens hold
on mines
In early November the Grupo Videre,
a firm owned by the family of former
Mozambique foreign minister Alcinda
Abreu, acquired 50% of a new com-
pany that aims to explore for precious
and semi-precious gems, Ovahana
Minerais.
The new company will be run by the
former minister’s son, Chivambo
Mamadhusen, the managing director
of Grupo Videre. The remaining stake
in Ovahana Minerais is owned by Fer-
nando Saide, an executive in the
Mozambican subsidiary of the Portu-
guese construction firm Elevo Group.
Setupin2011,GrupoVidereisalready
highly active in the mining sector, and
almost each time in a partnership with
Chinese companies.
Its affiliate South Orient explores
for precious stones alongside Orient
Africa Resources Co and plans to
shortly begin prospecting for gold in
conjunction with the equity fund Dao-
huaxing.
Its other units, Black Rock Mining
Co and Maputo Mining own gold
exploration concessions, also in part-
nerships with Chinese firms, particu-
larly Hong Kong Golden Jewelry.
Elsewhere, the group owns Con-
solidated Mining Services, a mining
industry services firm.
The owner of most of the Chinese
firms working with Grupo Videre,
Lingbin Kong (see here article in
The Indian Ocean Newsletter, Indigo
Publications group), is also picking
up new assets in Mozambique’s min-
ing branch.
In late October, his firm Black Rock
incorporated an exploration firm,
Mozambique Eldorado Mining Co,
in Maputo.
Kong is particularly close to another
son of Abreu, Dingane Abreu Mama-
dhusen, who’s also operations man-
ager at Grupo Videre.
Africa Ausdrill both driller and banker
Service provider to 13 gold
projects, the services company
Ausdrill locks in contracts by
investing in its customers.
During the general assembly of Vital
Metals, the operator on the Kollo gold
license in south-east Burkina Faso, the
firm’s CEO, Mark Strizek, told investors
he was launching a definition study to
model resources and weigh the best
methods to work the future mine.
The study will be financed by the AUD
1 million the company raised this summer.
Half the cash was put up by the drilling
concern Ausdrill that already works for
Vital in the Zeko area.
And it wasn’t the first time Ausdrill
bought a stake in gold explorers.
Indeed, the firm specializes in gold and
also owns an interest in Kefi Minerals,
operator of the Tulu Kapi gold mine in
eastern Ethiopia. That mine, still under
development, is supposed to come on
stream in 2018 and Ausdrill has posi-
tioned itself to be its prime services
provider.
The gold sector is its only specialty in
Africa for the moment (it also works,
among others, for AngloGold Ashanti
in Ghana and Mali and for Nordgold in
Burkina Faso) but Ausdrill is trying to
diversify its clientele and will use its
willingness to invest as a lure. Early this
year Ausdrill teamed up with the Guinean
firm Guinea Mining International (GMI)
and Gajah investment Group to submit
a bid to the government to build an
integrated bauxite-alumina complex in
the regions of Boffa and Telimele in a
license already explored by BHP Billiton
( AMI 361).
Hitbythecommoditycrisis( AMI 327),
Ausdrill nonetheless managed to return
to financial health this summer by selling
offnon-coreassets,particularlyTheMiners
ResthotelthatitoperatedinAustraliaand
two road transport affiliates.
Small-scale mining
Congo-K Diggers’ onslaught
on Tenke Fungurume copper
Already shaken by the legal and media war
between its shareholders ( AMI 380),
the Tenke Fungurume copper project is
now facing an invasion of illicit diggers.
Several thousands of them overran the
concession in November, causing an
underground pit to collapse when they
were trying to extract copper and cobalt.
Seventeen died in the accident. In the
quest for a solution, Richard Muyej,
governor of Lualaba province where Tenke
Fungurume is located, summoned a
meeting with the area’s interior, security
and civil service minister, Boniface Konde
Mwelwa, to discuss ways of providing
security for both the mines and the diggers
who descent on them for their livelihood.
Elsewhere, regular operations at Tenke
Fungurume were disrupted in recent weeks
by a strike by roughly 1,000 workers. It
ended on Nov. 28 when an agreement
providing higher pay and additional social
measures was reached.
ANGOLA Police exasperated
by illicit diggers from Congo-K
The border police carried out an “limpeza”
(clean up) operation in late November in
the municipality of Lucapa in the Angolan
province of Lunda Norte. The police
rounded up nearly 750 Congolese diggers
who had arrived in Angola without papers.
But the police also seized equipment used
in artisanal operations such as sieves,
water pumps and the gear diggers use to
wash precious stones. Already in late
October the police rounded up a little over
500 diggers who came from Congo-K to
extract diamonds in Angola. Highly
concerned with such influxes, the junior
minister in charge of penitentiaries at the
interior ministry, Bomoquina Zau, visited
the area in recent days and eventually
decided to reinforce the police presence
along Angola’s border with Congo-K.
CONGO-K New certified mines
in South Kivu
Speaking to the local media on Dec. 2,
South Kivu’s mines minister, Apollinaire
Bulindi claimed that the mining sector of
the province, which is made up largely of
concessions worked by small-scale miners,
had been restructured and had made a lot
of progress regarding authorized and clean
operations in 2016. In early December, the
province counted 73 newly- certified mines
whose output is considered traceable. The
number compared with just 30 the previous
year. However, the figure remains small
when laid against the estimated 900 mining
sites in all of South Kivu.
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3813/6
Who's WhoFundingExploration-ProductionGovernment Strategies

4. Djibouti Thani Stratex forges ahead
on Pandora and Assaleyta gold mines
Having closed down its subsidiary
Stratex Djibouti in early November,
Britain’s Stratex International is now
working exclusively in Djibouti through its
firm Thani Stratex Resources (TSR).
That company, a joint venture which
Stratex formed with the United Arab
Emirates concern Thani Emirates
Resource Holdings, is the only gold
explorer in Djibouti and works on its
Pandora and Assaleyta projects.
TSR recently contracted Energold
Drilling Corp to conduct sample drilling
on its licenses, an operation that will take
until the end of the first quarter in 2017.
The JV is financing operations with
$2 million invested in it by the American
investmentfund ResourceCapitalFunds
and a minimum of $1.5 million pledged by
the Dutch firm NurtureEx, a unit of
Luxembourg-based African Minerals
Exploration Development (AMED).
If the drilling campaign proves positive
NurtureEx might build up its stake in TSR
to50%andcouldthenshouldertheentire
cost of the drilling.
Uganda Museveni targeting 300,000 t
of fertilizer output in 2018
Experts and engineers hired by China’s
GuangzhouDongsongEnergyGroupCo
(GDEG) to build a plant to transform phos-
phates into fertilizer at Sukulu are due to
arriveonthesiteinDecember.Theproject
underdevelopmentliesintheTororoarea
in northern Uganda.
HeadedbyZhengXu,GDEGhasalready
spent $120 million on the project and
expects to lay out a further $500 million
if it wants the mine to begin producing in
mid-2018.Theprojectconsistsofafertilizer
plant with a capacity of 300,000 tons per
year and a sulfuric acid facility turning out
up to 200,000 tons.
The Chinese group would also like to
build a power plant that would serve both
the mine and surrounding villages.
TheGDEGprojectenjoysthedirectback-
ingofUgandanpresidentYoweriMuseveni
who wants to give the country’s farming
sector a shot in the arm by producing fer-
tilizer locally.
When the government’s inspector-gen-
eralclaimedin2015thattheChinesegroup
hadn’t complied with the rules to obtain
its mining license and demanded that the
rights be withdrawn Museveni stepped in
personally to put an end to incident and
allow GDEG to continue working.
Zambia Vedanta and ZCCM-IH reach
agreement on Konkola's copper
Calling on Vedanta to pay
$142 million following privatization
of the Konkola mines, ZCCM-IH
succeeded in negotiating the payout.
According to Pius Kasolo, CEO of the state-
owned holding group Zambia Consolidated
Copper Mines-Investments Holdings
(ZCCM-IH)hiscompanyhasreachedanagree-
ment in a dispute pitting it against its partner
in the Konkola copper mines program, India’s
Vedanta Resources. The latter should thus
shortly pay the $142 million that ZCCM-IH. its
partner in the JV Konkola Copper Mines
(KCM), has been demanding.
In June, before the High Court in London,
ZCCM-IH called on Vedanta to pay $100 million
and claims a further $42 million in interest.
ZCCM-IH said the sum represented money that
Vedanta had failed to pay when it acquired the
lastoftheKonkolaminesfollowingtheprivatiza-
tionofZCCM-IHintheearly2000s( AMI 371).
As ZCCM-IH’s finances have been hit by
the drop in the copper price the settlement
will enable the group to partly refill its cof-
fers. In addition, ZCCM must also finance
two arbitration procedures it launched
before a court in Lusaka and the London
Court of international Arbitration in early
November against First Quantum Minerals
( AMI 380, and read P.5), its partner
at the Kansanshi mine.
Deep in the Copperbelt
Looking ahead
guinea Former minister Soumah
starts his own company
Mines and geology minister in Guinea
between 2002-2005 under president
Lansana Conte, Alpha Mady Soumah has
registered a new company in Conakry,
namely Talawasi. The firm is to carry out
studies and offer consulting services with
regards promoting and developing natural
resources - and particularly mineral
resources - in Guinea.
GUINEA India's Dynamic Mining
asked to try again
In late November, Guinea’s mines and geology
minister, Abdoulaye Magassouba, decided he
wouldn’t award a mining license to the Indian
firm Dynamic Mining but rather ask it to renew
its bauxite exploration license in the Boke
region for two years. Officials at the ministry felt
that a feasibility study submitted by Dynamic,
an affiliate of the Indian group Jaguar
Overseas, in mid-October ( AMI 379) wasn’t
comprehensive enough and lacked some
technical details. Even so, Dynamic had to
relinquish 50% of its concession to the
government. The operation recently stirred
tension between Guinea’s government, the
Indian embassy in Conakry and Manas
Agarwal, the boss of Dynamic who felt he was
being forced to hand back zones which he
would have preferred to keep and to hold on to
less interesting properties ( AMI 377). The
case of the French firm Alliance Miniere
Responsable (AMR), which was examined at
the same time by Guinea’s government, gave
rise to a favorable ruling. During the Mines and
Money conference which took place in London
between Nov. 28-Dec. 1, Romain Girbal,
co-founder of AMR, said he now hoped to
receive a mining permit in coming weeks.
BURKINA FASO Roxgold soon
connected to power grid
By the end of this year the Yaramoko gold
mine in Burkina Faso ought to be connected
to the power grid of Societe Nationale
d’Electricite du Burkina Faso (Sonabel). The
mine’s operator, the Canadian explorer
Roxgold Inc, which put up $8 million towards
the connection of Yaramoko to the national
power grid, had operated it up to now with its
own 5 MW generator. The junior, which
inaugurated its mine in May and therefore
became the ninth industrial-scale mining
operation in Burkina Faso, hopes to produce
100,000 ounces of gold (or three tons) per
annum out of a reserve currently estimated at
over one million ounces ( AMI 373).
Without waiting to connect to the grid
Roxgold is pressing ahead with work on “zone
55” at Yaramoko mine. Its ore presents a
particularly high gold content, around
15 grams per ton on average.
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3814/6
Who's WhoFundingExploration-ProductionGovernment Strategies

5. zambia Clifford Chance
backs ZCCM-IH against
First Quantum
The state-owned holding group
Zambia Consolidated Copper
Mines-Investments Holdings
(ZCCM-IH) has retained the
Clifford Chance law firm to repre-
sent it in a case pitting it against
the Canadian mining giant First
Quantum Minerals. In early
November, ZCCM-IH launched an
arbitration case against First
Quantum before the London
CourtofInternationalArbitration
to recover money it says to be
owed from unpaid dividends
( AMI 380). In the late 1990s
Clifford Chance backed the privati-
zationofZCCM-IH.LastJuneZCCM-IH
began arbitration proceedings
against its partner in the Konkola
copper mines, India’s Vedanta
Resources (see P.4). It was not
immediatelyknownwhoistorepre-
sent First Quantum in the case.
South Africa Peter Leon
voices misgivings over
new mining charter
In a speech at the Investing in
African Mining conference which
took place in London on Nov. 28,
Peter Leon, boss of Herbert
Smith Freehills’ new office in
Johannesburg ( AMI 355),
outlined what he saw as obsta-
cles in the new mining charter
presented by South Africa’s gov-
ernment in mid-November. Leon
said the charter’s demands
regarding shareholding rights
and employees under Pretoria’s
Black Economic Power policy
were too stringent and that the
document’s wording stirred con-
cern in South Africa’s Chamber
of Mines. Taking the floor a few
minutes earlier, Neal Froneman,
CEO of Sibanye Gold, confirmed
that the business climate was
difficult in South Africa’s mining
sector.
Mali Funding remains elusive
for Great Quest phosphate project
Great Quest Fertilizer has been
seeking $20 million to get its
fertilizer project off the ground at
Tilemsi.
While he claims his phosphates mine at
Tilemsiinnorth-eastMalicouldstartproduc-
ing in 12 months’ time, Jed Richardson,
CEO of Great Quest Fertilizer (GQF) still
needs to find $20 million. The Vancouver-
based explorer is currently in talks with
international donors and private investors.
GQF, which has already drummed up
$10 million, particularly from the Malian
consortium Societe Africaine de
Developpement Agricole, hopes to find
therestofthemoneyheneedsbymid-2017.
However, investors might be put off by
the security situation in northern Mali and
the cost of carrying output from Tilemsi to
a processing plant at Segou a few kilome-
ters from Bamako: GQF hopes to start by
turningout80,000tonsoffertilizerperyear.
Would-be investors are also concerned
about the capacity of the domestic mar-
ket - which GQF says is highly depen-
dent on imports at present - to absorb
output from Tilemsi at a time when other
fertilizer projects are being developed
in the country. And even though the
local firm Toguna is embroiled in a
scandal involving adulterated fertilizer
it remains the country’s leading pro-
ducer ( AMI 370).
Africa Yoka unveils Marys Capital,
a mining investment fund
Country manager for Sundance
and a relative of Congo-B’s
president, Aime Emmanuel Yoka
is working to set up a new mining
investment fund.
The country manager for Sundance
Resources in Congo-B, Aime Emmanuel
Yoka, showcased his new fund, Marys
Capital Investments, at the Mines and
Money conference in London at the end of
November.
Incorporated in Singapore in April,
Marys will largely focus on the African
mining industry where its current bac-
kers boast extensive networks of
contacts among both mining companies
and governments.
Yokaisthesonofapoliticianwiththesame
namewhowasjusticeministerinBrazzaville
untilMayofthisyearandhappenstobethe
uncleofpresidentDenisSassouNguesso.
A former executive of BHP Billiton, Yoka
is also president of the Federation des
Mines du Congo. His partner is a former
colleague at BHP.
Yoka is seeking to raise money for his
fundtoinvestiniron,bauxite,potash,phos-
phates and coal projects. He appears par-
ticularly interested in a bauxite project in
Ivory Coast operated by Lagune
Exploration Afrique, a company owned
bythebrothersofAdamaBictogo,aformer
minister under Alassane Ouattara
( AMI 380),andbytheassetsofSinosteel
Corp in Cameroon ( AMI 348).
Liberia
Aureus changes name after
its acquisition by Turkey’s MNG
The shareholders of the Canadian explorer
Aureus Mining Inc, which operates the New
Liberty gold mine in Liberia, voted on Nov. 29
to change the company’s name to Avesoro
Resources. The switch came following the
acquisition of 55% of its equity in July by the
Turkish concern MNG Gold which
subsequently invested a further $72 million in
the company and thus raised its stake to
76.6% in November. The name-change came
along with changes in the firm’s management.
Serhan Umurhan, CEO of MNG Gold, took
over as boss of Avesoro and MNG’s finance
director, Geoff Eyre, kept the same job at
Avesoro. Both of them also joined the board
of Avesoro. MNG Gold, an affiliate of the MNG
Group of Companies owned by Turkish
businessman Mehmet Nazif Gunal, was
re-named Avesoro Holdings.
Ivory Coast
De Montessus stayed away
to work on his budget
Expected in London on Nov. 29 to take the floor
on two occasions during the Mines and Money
seminar, Sebastien de Montessus, CEO of the
gold producer Endeavour Mining, couldn’t make
it and asked his vice president in charge of
strategy and investor relations, Martino de
Ciccio, to replace him. De Montessus, former
chief of Areva’s mines department, had to
remain in Abidjan to work on Endeavour’s budget
for 2017. Also expected in London, the finance
director of Endeavour, Vincent Benoit, also
stayed in Abidjan. Intent on increasing its output
to 900,000 ounces per year by 2018, Endeavour
expects to conduct more exploration and
construction work on its licenses in 2017,
particularly at the Ity mine in Ivory Coast and at
Hounde in Burkina Faso ( AMI 378). Even
though La Mancha, a firm owned by Egyptian
mogul Naguib Sawiris, recently acquired a stake
in Endeavour the firm has to stick to a tight
budget for its projects.
Consultants
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3815/6
Who's WhoFundingExploration-ProductionGovernment Strategies

6. AFRICA MINING INTELLIGENCE is published by Africa Intelligence, a website by Indigo Publications.
It is published every two weeks in English and in French since 2000.
X Group Publisher: Maurice BOTBOL X Executive Editor: Philippe VASSET
X Journalists: Louise MARGOLIN and Pénélope BACLE
X Contact: RedactionAMI@indigo-net.net X Tel: +33 1 44 88 54 90 X Fax: +33 1 44 88 57 33
© Indigo Publications - Reproduction dissemination prohibited without written permission.
ISSN : 1624-6217 X Published on www.AfricaIntelligence.com (Commission paritaire: 1220 W 92894)
X Other publications : The Indian Ocean Newsletter, Maghreb Confidential, Africa Energy Intelligence,
West Africa Newsletter, Intelligence Online, Africa Confidential (French edition), La Lettre A and
PresseNews (in French only).
€ 780 / US$ 1015
23 issues by email
+ Online edition
+ Email alerts
+ Special reports Insiders briefs
+ Archives since 2000
+ Mobile app (iOS, Android)
One Year Subscription
142, rue Montmartre
75002 Paris
Tél : + 33 1 44 88 26 10
info@indigo-net.com
south sudan Mark Parker checks security
Having declared force majeure on his
gold projects in South Sudan at the end
ofNovember,BritishnationalMarkParker,
managing director of the junior Equator
Gold, is to fly to Juba this week for talks
with the country’s oil and mines minister,
Stephen Dhieu Dau. Parker, who also
chairs Andiamo Exploration that pros-
pects for gold and base metals in Eritrea,
will talk with Dau on options to bolster
security at Equator’s mines.
Since early this summer, Equator’s
concession south of Juba, and particu-
larly its flagship project at Luri, has
been inaccessible and the staff evacu-
ated because of an offensive by local
militia.
Equator isn’t the only company explor-
ing in South Sudan to have been hit by
insecurity. The Australian junior Epic
Exploration was also forced to suspend
its operations ( AMI 378).
Morocco Patrick de Saint-Simon teams
up with former Managem and OCP execs
FrenchgeologistPatrickdeSaint-Simon,
founder of the TGM consultancy and a for-
mer director at GoviEx Uranium and
Semafo Energie Inc, has found top-level
pathfinders to help him advance on the
mining front in Morocco. As Maghreb
Confidentialreported(IndigoPublications,
see here), he has joined with two local
luminaries, Abdelaziz Abarro and El
Houssain Youzaien in incorporating two
explorationcompanies,PhamMiningand
MerijaMining.UntilJanuaryAbarroserved
asCEOofManagem,theminingarmofthe
holding company of Moroccan king
Mohammed VIwhileYouzalenwasaformer
executive of the phosphates giant OCP.
Saint-Simon is a close associate of
Jean-Francois Henin, boss of the
Maurel Prom oil outfit, and joined
forces with OCP and ONHYM some years
ago to explore for gold and silver in
Morocco ( AMI 313).
Madagascar Chen Tong
helpsISRinrareearthsbuy
In late November the Singapore-based invest-
ment fund ISR Capital named a mining indus-
try expert, Chen Tong, as its boss in a move
aimed at gaining a strong foothold in
Madagascar. Having already largely invested
in mining companies and projects, ISR is intent
on acquiring a 60% stake in Tantalum Holding,
parent company of the Tantalum Rare Earth
Malagasy firm that operates a rare earths
scheme in Madagascar. ISR considers the proj-
ect is worth a cool $1 billion.
Owning 1.5% of ISR, Chen, who heads his own
consulting concern Newview Resource which
specializes in natural resources, is highly famil-
iar with the mining scene in Africa. He worked
for long years for the South African firm
Minmetals, a subsidiary of China Minmetals
Corp that specializes in turning West African
iron ore into steel.
Chen also served in the past with the state-
owned Chinese firm Chinalco (China
Aluminum co), the firm that has just bought
out the entire Simandou iron ore project in
Guinea ( AMI 380). Chen was equally an
executiveattheJapanesetradingfirmSumitomo
Corp and at Hong Kong’s Winsway.
Africa
Vincent Mascolo
in new push
to raise his
industry profile
After registering two mining companies
to explore for lithium in Ivory Coast
( AMI 377), Vincent Mascolo, chief
executive of IronRidge Resources, has
recently been appointed to the board of
two explorers operating in Africa, namely
Tekton Minerals and Lithium Consoli-
dated Mineral Exploration (LCME).
IronRidgehasheldastakeinTektonsince
this summer and is betting particularly
on it in coming months: the firm owns
five gold licenses in eastern Chad, Dor-
othe, Echbara, Am Ouchar, Ade and
Nabagay. Tekton also picked up a baux-
ite permit in Guinea in 2015 and operates
in Sudan and Congo-B as well.
LCME, in which Mascolo personally
holds a 0.46% stake, is active in Botswana
through its 80%-owned subsidiary
South Resources Ventures. South
Resources recently acquired six
exploration licenses for lithium
in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans
region and has put in an application
for two additional concessions.
Even so, Mascolo is counting on Iron-
Ridge itself to put down roots in new
countries. Originally active in iron ore
in Gabon, IronRidge acquired lithium
licenses in Ghana in September to which
it has just added gold projects in Ivory
Coast.
Alain Pillevuit
Managing director at Tekton Minerals, Swiss
geologist Alain Pillevuit worked up to 2008
for Rio Tinto on the Simandou iron ore
project in Guinea and then for two
subsidiaries of Glencore, MPD Congo in
Congo-B and Xstrata in Mauritania.
Paul Reed
A former British merchant navy seaman, Paul
Reed is now operations manager for Tekton
and worked with Pillevuit at Simandou and
for Xstrata.
Len Kolff
Country boss for IronRidge in Gabon and
manager of its new operations in Ivory Coast,
Len Kolff, a director on Tekton’s board, was
also involved in the Simandou project. He
equally worked for Tawana Resources, a
junior that explores for iron ore at Mofe Creek
in Liberia. Gary Vallerius, finance director at
Tekton, also worked in the past for Rio Tinto.
Simandou men switch to Tekton
Access all articles since 1992 on AfricaIntelligence.com december 6, 2016 - nº3816/6
Funding Who's WhoGovernment Strategies Exploration-Production