A miner drives a vehicle at Zimplats’ Ngwarati Mine in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Zimbabwe. The country is the world’s second-largest producer of platinum. Philimon Bulawayo / Reuters
A miner drives a vehicle at Zimplats’ Ngwarati Mine in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Zimbabwe. The country is the world’s second-largest producer of platinum. Philimon Bulawayo / Reuters

Billion-dollar map may prove key to unlock Africa’s future



CAPE TOWN // It is being called the “billion dollar map”, a catchy name that, if anything, underplays just how valuable a guide it will be to Africa’s hidden mineral treasures.

Many overseas companies, including from the UAE, are involved in resource exploration on the continent. They include Dana Gas, primarily focused on Egypt, and RAK Gas, which has an ongoing project in Malawi.

While those are hydrocarbon ventures, it has long been established that the continent holds beneath its soil vast quantities of desirable minerals, too. Finding them in economically viable deposits, however, is not always easy. Geological surveys are painfully slow and it can cost as much as US$1 million per metre to drill core samples.

To speed things along and ease the path for mineral explorers, the World Bank has started a geomapping programme that will eventually cover much of the continent.

“The geodata gathering process involved aerial surveys by low-flying airplanes across the country at a consistent line spacing to gather the electromagnetic data,” says Zeria Banda, a World Bank spokesman in Malawi, where a precursor to the Africa-wide mapping project has commenced.

“The survey has already identified interesting geological features that were previously unknown.”

Malawi has been something of a Cinderella state in southern Africa, where mining underpins the economies of the states in that region. Zambia is one of the world’s largest producers of copper, an element vital to electronics, electricity transmission and wind turbine construction.

Neighbouring Zimbabwe is the world’s second-largest producer of platinum after South Africa, used in catalytic converters and jewellery. Botswana and Namibia have diamonds and South Africa has pretty much everything – gold, diamonds, iron ore and more.

Malawi, though, seemed to have been overlooked in the geological lottery. The former British colony was ignored for decades by mineral hunters, largely because it is a peculiar colonial construct that is wedged between different countries with no access to the sea. Without a port, getting minerals to world markets is difficult in the extreme.

Its one significant mine, a uranium producer operated by the Australia-listed Paladin Energy, had been trucking uranium almost 2,000 kilometres by road to Namibia and the diesel bill eventually swamped the operation, causing it to be closed down.

The uranium mine was, at its peak, generating around 10 per cent of Malawi’s GDP, and its closure was sorely felt.

Hydrocarbons are also a source of interest for RAK Gas there.

The company has conducted tests and surveys in the country that are a precursor to exploration drilling.

Now Malawi is hoping mineral discoveries will see new mining ventures opening up, too.

One such hopeful is Mkango, a Canadian company focusing on rare earths. These are a special breed of minerals that are increasingly important in hi-tech applications.

“The demand is from clean-tech and many consumer devices,” says the Mkango chief executive William Dawes. “They are needed for the optimum functioning of wind turbines, smartphones and fuel cracking among others. Any application that requires miniaturisation of components is likely to have them.”

An example of the firm’s Web-based airborne magnetic survey mapping, done last month, is available at http://www.mkango.ca.

Virtually all rare earths are currently supplied by China, which has guarded its monopoly jealously. In 2006 Beijing began to restrict exports to better control the price of the minerals. As prices rose, so others eyed the market and by 2012 the only rare earth operation in the United States, Molycorp, began processing ore.

China then dropped export restrictions and by last year Molycorp had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Many other rare earth start-ups that were touting their projects to investors in Toronto, London and Australia – the centres of mining finance – also went to the wall.

Mkango, however, has soldiered on, promoting its Malawi plan. It recently listed in London – a mere two weeks before Brexit – raising $1m on the Alternative Investment Index (AIM). Considering the company is little more than a handful of geological data and a website, this was a successful listing at a time when few start-up mining ventures are attracting any capital at all.

Mr Dawes says the funds raised will allow further geological investigation in preparation for actually getting shovels in the ground. The company is now the only rare earth miner listed on the AIM, which is part of the London stock exchange.

Much of the success of Mkango’s listing comes down to the time Mr Dawes, a Briton, has spent alternatively dressed in khakis in the rolling hills of Malawi gathering data and suited up for boardrooms talking to investors.

The company was also assisted by a wealth of free data made available by the World Bank’s geomapping project. To date more than $31m has been spent on the project, says Mr Banda.

The information has helped Mkango in its search for rare earths, but also revealed other minerals, Mr Dawes says.

“We are very excited with the results of the airborne survey, which further confirms significant potential for uranium, niobium, tantalum and other minerals,” he says.

As for the issue of lack of infrastructure and port access – that, too, has changed. Malawi is now connected to Mozambique via a 500km railway line that runs to the Indian Ocean. It runs within 100km of where Mkango hopes to build its mine.

Meanwhile, other countries should now also benefit from geomapping. Soon the aerial photographing of Zambia will begin, and others will follow thereafter.

A big advantage of this being a World Bank initiative is that all the data is publicly available.

Often private surveys carried out by mining companies are kept confidential, lest rival treasure hunters try to quickly move in.

Now, all this data will be readily available and it will be the first Web-based open-access regional geodatabase for Africa.

The World Bank believes resource extraction will form the basis of many African economies as they develop.

South Africa is an illustration of how mining can transform a country. Resource extraction has powered it to become the only industrialised country in sub Saharan Africa.

“Uses of geoscientific data for the public good justify government support for their collection, collation and delivery,” Mr Banda adds.

business@thenational.ae

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M3%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%2FUSB-4%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206E%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Midnight%2C%20silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%2F35W%20dual-port%2F70w%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%2C%202%20Apple%20stickers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C599%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.