Member Info for bettyswollox

It seems that Beluga only has two share holders and shares it's tatty looking office block in Lagos with four other equally dodgy sounding companies.
https://nigeria24.me/beluga-energy-limited
You can see their office block on google street view here.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/11B+Adeola+Odeku+St,+Victoria+Island+106104,+Lagos,+Nigeria/@6.4299237,3.4162256,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x103b8ad2c1bc500b:0x3076db1d9ab5f916!8m2!3d6.4299237!4d3.4184143

He signed a decree to appoint an ambassador yesterday.
https://www.prc.cm/en/news/the-acts/decrees

Micru
Does the farmout need to be signed off by the president himself?
If so, this extract from his wikipedia page may go some way to explaining the delay.
"Tyrants, the World's 20 Worst Living Dictators", by David Wallechinsky, ranked Biya with three others commonly in sub-Saharan Africa: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland. He describes Cameroon's electoral process in these terms: "Every few years, Biya stages an election to justify his continuing reign, but these elections have no credibility. In fact, Biya is credited with a creative innovation in the world of phony elections. In 2004, annoyed by the criticisms of international vote-monitoring groups, he paid for his own set of international observers, six ex-U.S. congressmen, who certified his election as free and fair." In a 2005 interview William Quantrill, a retired member of HM Diplomatic Service, argued that the reluctance of Biya to delegate responsibility seriously hampered the quality of governance, with trivial decisions often delayed until he got round to delivering them, and that there was too much government interference in the economy in general.

Biya regularly spends extended periods of time in Switzerland at the Hotel InterContinental Geneva where the former director Herbert Schott reportedly said he comes to work without being disturbed. These extended stays away from Cameroon – while sometimes as short as two weeks – are sometimes as long as three months and are almost always referred to as "short stays" in the state-owned press and other media. In February 2008, he passed a bill that allows for having an additional term in office as president which was followed by civil unrests throughout the country. The main violent riots took place in the Western, English-speaking part of the country starting with a "strike" initiated by taxi drivers in Douala, allegedly causing more than 200 casualties in the end. In 2009, his holiday in France allegedly cost $40,000 a day spent on 43 hotel rooms.

Hmm interesting. The quote I posted was from a previous RNS, I wonder where TRP got the 60 days from!
And as you say the lack of comms is inexcusable.

"The Cameroon Petroleum Code provides that approval of a transaction of this type should be provided by the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development ("MINMIDT") within 60 days of 21st September 2021, when it was formally requested, which means by Saturday 20th November 2021. "
Now 73 days overdue and no news whatsoever.
Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Yep, 117 seats. Happy days.

The populations of the region feel that “they are not heard and their wishes are not respected” .

“We want to say that we do not agree with how things have been going. The people should be listened to more” because, despite the existence of participation processes, “the demands are not taken into account, that is, the processes advance in the way they want”, says Vitor Afonso.

For this reason, the Movimento Não à Minas – Montalegre and the Associação Povo e Natureza de Barroso, “understood that this was the moment for another call for attention to the incompatibility of mining exploration with the way of life of local populations, no matter how much false advertising let it be done in the opposite direction, with promises of employment, development and environmental rigor”, reads the statement sent to Renascençe

Arguments for “No” to Mines

There are several arguments used by movements that contest mining in the region. First of all because they are located in the surroundings of dams where water is collected for human consumption.

“The Alto Rabagão Dam supplies the region of Barroso and Alto Tâmega and the Venda Nova Dam supplies the Ave Valley. In addition, the flow of these two dams, inserted in the Rabagão river, will flow into the Cávado river, in whose valley there are more abstractions, which supply, among others, the city of Braga”, points out the movement, adding that in addition to “soil contamination” , mines represent “risks for biodiversity” .

There is more… According to Vitor Afonso , “many things are at stake, namely the occupation of land” .

“We are talking about many areas of the common land that serve to support the populations and that will be occupied and private lands as well; the health of populations due to dust ; noise pollution; the devaluation of real estate, all houses and land that are inside the construction and even nearby will lose value; of land expropriations without people being interested”, exemplifies the movement's spokesperson.

In the case of Minas da Borralha, there is a fear of "landsliding because there are galleries more than 260 meters deep".

Montalegre and Boticas are municipalities where the populations are mainly engaged in activities related to agriculture and livestock and according to the promoters of the event “mining activity, due to its serious consequences, is not welcome in these lands”.

“The focus must continue to focus on tourism, on the enhancement and transformation of high quality local products and on activities linked to nature”, they defend, noting that the Barroso region bears the seal of World Agricultural Heritage; Montalegre is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Peneda-Gerês Park and if “the mines advance, these two honorable classifications could be lost”.

According to this article the opposition parties are refusing to answer the lithium question

Jan 21, 2022 - 08:46 • Olímpia Mairos
Barroso goes out (again) against the mines

Populations in the region feel that “they are not heard and their will is not respected” and fear that after the elections decisions will be taken that harm the territory.

The theme has passed by the side of the electoral campaign, but the populations do not forget it. And that is why the movements against mining operations planned for the Barroso region are back on the streets, in a demonstration scheduled for Saturday, January 22nd.

The gathering will take place at Praça do Município, in Montalegre, at 2:30 pm from where it will start in a street through several streets of the village where the Feira do Fumeiro is taking place, an attraction factor for the region.

The protest comes after the Non-Mines Movement – ??Montalegre asked all parties competing in the legislative elections to take a position on mining in the country and, in particular, in the Barroso region. The answer did not arrive and the movement argues that “people need to know what they think and what measures the parties will take to stop this attack on the environment, life and health of populations, so that they can vote in conscience” .

According to Vitor Afonso of the Non-Mine Movement, “the seriousness of the current and future situation” cannot be left unanswered, because “there are 22 contracts already signed, between prospecting, research and exploration, for different areas of the region, in a territory of only 1,128 km2” and citizens must be informed “so that they can have a vote in conscience”.

The most advanced projects and those of greatest concern to the inhabitants of the Barroso region are the Barroso Mine (Savannah), in Boticas; the Roman Mine (Lusorecursos) and the Borralha Mine (Minerália), in Montalegre.

In the near future, according to the No to Mines Movement, several decisions will be taken, such as: the launch of public participation in the Environmental Impact Study of the Roman Mine; the decision on the Environmental Impact Study of the Barroso Mine and the conclusions of the strategic environmental assessment of the Lithium PPP.

Vitor Afonso warns that these types of decisions , which in some way may have some relevance in electoral terms, usually “are made public a few days after the elections” .

“The signing of the contracts, which includes Borralha, took place after the State Budget had already been refused; in the case of the launch of the strategic environmental assessment of lithium, it came one or two days after the last municipal elections”, he exemplifies.

Now - says the movement - "if the processes advance in the government secretariats of the APA and DGEG, the street protests cannot stop either".

The populations of the region feel that “they are not he

https://africanarguments.org/2016/03/virtual-mining-in-cameroon-how-to-make-a-fortune-by-failing/

I don't know if this is reassuring or not!
https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/cameroon-market-challenges

Here's the English translation.
Galp is accepting, until the end of this week, candidacies for a position of coordination of the various processes linked to the installation of a lithium processing plant.

Until the 12th, the company led by Andy Brown, intends to receive expressions of interest from professionals capable of coordinating all authorization and licensing procedures required for "the construction and operation" of the lithium refinery, so that they are "requested in a timely manner and issued without delays”.

"Be part of the creation of a new business for Galp, in the exponential growth industry of [electric] batteries", says the oil company in the contract announcement, published on the social network Linkedin.

Just last week, Galp promised news about future investments in lithium and in the value chain of electric batteries very soon.

According to Andy Brown, Galp, with its industrial experience, intends to be “the bridge” between those who have access to raw materials and those who manufacture batteries.

British company Savannah (with which Galp had an exclusivity agreement, which has since fallen), which holds the rights to explore lithium in the Barroso mine, in Boticas, and the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt have been singled out as Galp's most likely partners in this new line of business.

As a profile to coordinate the implementation of the new lithium processing plant, the company asks for someone with qualifications in the field of environmental engineering or similar, and who has, among other requirements, five or more years of management experience in the chemical field or in chemical projects. lithium, experience in relationships with national entities in the environmental area and knowledge of the European environmental framework.

In a recent meeting with the press, the president of Galp assured that the location of this refinery, which will represent an investment of hundreds of millions of euros, had not yet been decided, but this did not prevent the company from moving forward with investment proposals within the scope of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) precisely in the area of ??batteries.

If Portugal does not move towards extracting lithium, limiting itself to importing the ore for processing, “it will miss an opportunity”, said the manager.

Also, tomorrow is transport day at the climate summit. Good day for an announcement!

There was a young man called Ted
Who played with toy soldiers in bed
He got tired of his grenadiers
Colonels and bombardiers
So he played with his privates instead