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.."the Saudi minister met with the Glen chairman in Switz for whatever reason/rationale, which may/may not have included Zanaga. .."

Well, Saudi PIF was emerging then as front-runner for a stake in VALE's new minerals business (all the sexy EV stuff).

VALE seems to be twintracking present/moneymaking iron ore + future sexy business, GLEN is twintracking present/moneymaking 'dirty ' coal + future sexy business.

I'm sure PIF/ GLEN have bigger fish to fry than lil' old ZIOC... but it would probably speed things up/break any impasse there might be atm if it could be a negotiating chip in any 'wrap-up' deals that were going on.

Note to self : 'Be careful what you wish for. Maybe.'

ATB

Maybe the 'Big Den' taxi service is not only about getting him onside for COP28 (green ore and green jungle basins) and for Riyadh WorldExpo 2030....but incidentally sending a msge to the Chinese that the Gulfies have him 'onside' ?

Certainly they've got the money and the local motivation, China doesn't seem to be doing terribly well at the moment economically...and the US campaign for 'desinofication' or 'reshoring' isn't helping.

The BRICS meet-up , pushing for 'de-dollarisation' and more south/south direct exchanges*, could be quite interesting!

* eg Western sanctions on Russia have prompted Russia to accept payment in rupees for (embargoed) Russian oil, bypassing the USD (and US potential for interference) completely. That precedent won't have gone un-noticed, I bet.

Hi Jiving,

Snap!

;->

I'm also not clear why you believe that ZIOC's intentions /perceptions as expressed in Sept 2022 (pre Nov 22 Corporate restructuring, likely in response to the 'various approaches' received) should have greater significance than the current July 2023 statements re the 'partnership launched with a new Chinese EPC Partner', including

.."Chinese EPC Partner possesses specific, specialised, design and construction expertise in SLURRY PIPELINE PROJECTS as well as iron ore pellet feed concentrate projects similar to the Zanaga Project..."

I'm wondering whether we've now got a stand-off over ZIOC between the Chinese on the one hand, the Gulfies on the other....and Vale and the Chinese both wanting to secure the best deal for themselves under either scenario, without p*ssing off the Gulfies in a wider relationship context.

ATB

Hi MM,

My take is that Ruto's late May speech was him banging the drum at a conference his country was hosting and he was presiding over.

https://www.the-star.co.ke/in-pictures/2023-05-29-photos-ruto-roots-for-intra-african-trade-during-afcfta/

Note that this jamboree was about 'private sector involvement in achievement of agenda 2063.'

Agenda 2063 is the baby of the African Union.

Go to their website https://au.int/en/12th-african-union-private-sector-forum

and look at 'What we do'.

There's a remarkable overlap of the AU's 14 'Key Programme areas' with the 18 MoU's signed during the recent C-B/Kenya meeting (see alwayshoping's full list of 8th July), which - call me sceptic- seem a lot like fulfilling a campaign pledge or pledges...

Maybe I'm wrong , but I see the pan African railtalk as a bit of a 'nothingburger', where Ruto has to have something to talk about at 'his' conference. And a panAfrican railway is an obvious theme for the African UNION.

If a Gulfie had signed 3 x substantive (tax, investment and airtraffic) MoU's with Kenya, as AbuDhabi did with C-B, then I'd agree you're comparing like-with-like.

One debt-laden African country signing 18 mostly 'wishlist' MoU's with another debt-laden African country isn't quite the same, I' d suggest.

On a positive - and more closely ZIOC-related note - Ruto's conference-driven activity shows that appearances count and that public deadlines can drive events.....and that we can hopefully look forward to a plethora of tangible 'green ore'-related news at COP 28 by December ...and maybe some evidence of south/south co-operation at the earlier BRICS ++ meet-up in August.

Same glass, same contents, different PoV.

ATB

AIUI, the roadmap is set out in the 3 April RNS 'Next steps', viz :

.."Once the Court issues its final judgment [on date and interest rate ie quantum], that judgment will be appealable as of right to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and based on past practice it would be surprising if Argentina did not appeal. After seeing Argentina's appeal, Plaintiffs would decide whether to cross-appeal the dismissal of YPF.

The Second Circuit presently is taking around a year to resolve appeals once filed, although there is meaningful deviation from that mean. The District Court's judgment would be enforceable while the appeal is pending unless Argentina posts a bond to secure its performance, which we consider unlikely, or unless a court grants a relatively unusual stay.

Following the Second Circuit's decision, either party can seek review from the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court accepts cases only on a discretionary basis and we believe the likelihood of it accepting a commercial case of this nature that does not present a contested issue of law is quite low, particularly given that Argentina has already once in this Case unsuccessfully sought Supreme Court review.

With an enforceable judgment in hand, Plaintiffs will either need to negotiate a resolution of the matter with Argentina, which would certainly result in what would likely be a substantial discount to the judgment amount in exchange for agreed payment, or engage in an enforcement campaign against Argentina which would likely be of extended duration relying on Burford's and its advisors' judgment enforcement expertise. Burford will not provide publicly any information about its enforcement or settlement strategies."

Once BUR has a 'sum certain in money', it can start enforcement even if Argentina appeals, unless Argentina posts a bond.

I would imagine that for public consumption BUR would prefer to use the velvet glove of a consensual arrangement (esp bearing the humanitarian optics that Argentina is already deploying) but make clear at some stage that it's covering an iron fist.

IMO

And then it turns out that Jindal Group's current interest in accessing ore in Guinea is complemented by its earlier acquisition of coal mining (and railway) assets in Mozambique....from Vale, of all people.

The sale is part of Vale’s strategy to exit coal assets and focus on its core businesses.

https://miningconnection.com/longwall/news/article/vulcan_to_acquire_vales_coal_assets_in_mozambique_for_270_million/

.."A logistics corridor, which links Moatize to the port of Nacala, consists of rail and port infrastructures. With 912km distance, the railroad passes through two countries Mozambique and Malawi.

With deep waters and multi-use standard, the port infrastructure is designed to receive and export about 18 million tonnes of coal. It is also used for general cargo and especially daily passenger transportation.."

The chess board is fast becoming 3-dimensional.

Meanwhile, other projects near Simandou - Nimba backed by Friedland and Zogota backed by Mick Davis (who's since walked away)- seem to have hit the buffers...

https://www.africaintelligence.com/serial/simandou-nimba-and-zogota--the-long-and-difficult-road-to-the-start-of-iron-ore-production

with one Indian Group - Jindal - quietly making a play for the Zogota concession

https://www.africaintelligence.com/west-africa/2023/04/21/doumbouya-plans-to-reallocate-zogota-iron-to-indian-tycoon-jindal,

and muddying the waters over 'adjacent' Nimba

https://www.africaintelligence.com/west-africa/2023/05/29/friedland-executives-and-lobbyists-battle-jindal-over-nimba-project,

with another Indian Group - Arcelor Mittal - playing hardball over the infrastructure access via Liberia, dragging in the US State Department..

https://www.africaintelligence.com/west-africa/2023/05/16/us-department-of-state-attempts-to-mediate-between-arcelormittal-and-hpx,.

Too many competing egos and interests...

The problem with bringing Mayoko (ie Sapro Mayoko) into the mix (which tbf would be an 'elegant' way of 'rewarding'Big Den) is the poor quality of its ore, hat-tip to Jiving 3rd July

.."It does beg the question of what game the Saudis & UAE are playing in RoC. The Mayoko project is not the high quality ore they need for their green steel project. This is from the Economist IU [2014] when Exxaro wrote down/off its ownership of Mayoko, here's the punchline:

"...as ore quality turned out to be lower than expected, rendering the project economically unviable amid falling global iron ore prices."...

And that was ages BEFORE the differentiation in ore grades had acquired its recent momentum.

http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=1531975337&Country=Congo%20(Brazzaville)&topic=Econ_1

It's not clear what the ore quality at Equatorial Resources' similarly/confusingly named project is, they say it's OK.From the same link

.."ER has been quick to distance itself from the Exxaro announcement, assuring investors that its Mayoko-Moussondji project is unconnected and not dependent on Exxaro's Mayoko-Lekoumou project. .."

I'm with you there though, if SaproMayoko is out on quality grounds and Mbalam-Nabeba on litigation overhang, that means that, for Congo at least, ZIOC is the 'only game in town'.

That being so, you'd think people would want to lock in the concession first, before investing too much time and effort in the precise manner of exploitation...

Which makes the lack of meaningful volumes in the s/p all the more puzzling.

Hi alwayshoping,

It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of this : It's unusually specific about timings (picks and shovels next month) and acknowledges the x-border complexities ('.. after a meeting with mining officials in the Republic of Congo.

"Together we can demonstrate to the world the maturity of our two peoples to ensure that the Cameroon-Congo mining family lives on," he said..."

Although no contractor or finance details ......and the legalities remain murky :

.."Australia's Sundance Resources has filed for international arbitration and billions of dollars in damages, saying Cameroon and the Republic of Congo violated contracts by developing the Mbalam-Nabeba project with Chinese investors..."

Burford is behind the other big 'known' iron ore deposit in Congo, Sundance Resources (as was) at Mbalam-Nabeba, up-country, straddling the border with Cameroon.

https://www.miningnews.net/politics/news/1409378/sundance-attracts-legal-funding-backer-for-case-against-congo

Sundance are seeking US$ 8.76 Bn damages, for cancellation of permits (and handover to a Chinese company).

And not a good look for Big Den/Little Den, if they're trying to attract foreign investment later this year....

Just IMO.

Let's see what (if anything) happens in August !

They have a bit of a pop at BUR's prospective gains, too.

Though it seems likely that Preska won't have a problem with raw capitalism in action.

This evidently hostile site considers her a willing servant of the 'system'.

https://jacobin.com/2021/10/steven-donziger-loretta-preska-law-corruption-courts-corporate-influence

She certainly seems to be on the side of the big battalions, shall we say.

Thanks for this.

As some have predicted, Argentina is pleading poverty as grounds for down-sizing any award.

The fact that this is, in large measure, self-inflicted by the venality and maladministration of successive Argentine governments seems to have escaped their notice.

This case gives new vitality to the word chutzpah, a Yiddish term meaning, roughly, incredible nerve.

Until now, the classic example of chutzpah was the boy who killed his parents, then threw himself on the mercy of the courts, asking for leniency because he was an orphan.

It is an old principle of Anglo-American jurisprudence that a wrongdoer should not be allowed to profit by his evil deed.

Although probably not Jewish herself (educated at College of Saint Rose), Judge Preska is - as it turns out- unusually well qualified to opine on 'chutzpah-ness' :

In the Epstein / Giuffre case (which she also handled), this was a trial issue at one point.

hxxps://forward.com/fast-forward/433224/alan-dershowitz-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-chutzpah/

'Judge To Dershowitz: You Wrote The Book On Chutzpah, And It Shows.."

It's a small world...

Hi NewKOTB,

Brown envelopes is so passe, don't you know ??!!

This is how DP World proposed to get the last DRC President Kabila 'onside' for DRC's proposed USD1bn port at Banana, his successor Tschikedi is supposedly trying to renegotiate/unravel.....

https://www.pplaaf.org/cases/the-banana-port-papers.html

ATB

Https://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/news-announcements/expo-2030-en/list-of-candidates-for-world-expo-2030

Five countries have submitted competing candidatures to organise World Expo 2030: Russia (in Moscow), the Republic of Korea (in Busan), Italy (in Rome), Ukraine (in Odessa) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (in Riyadh).

Worldexpos of world fairs are mainly about showcasing a nation's achievements, which is obv a big deal for MBS. And he'll want to willywave vs Dubai, who hosted 2020.

Given the competition, you wouldn't expect Saudi would have to (cough!) 'market' too hard...

AFAICS

Hope so!

And thanks for bringing me (and hopefully others) back 'on topic'

Incidentally, good to see that MBZ is batting for fellow Emirate Dubai's DP World here, as well as his 'own' Abu Dhabi Ports... it wasn't always thus.

In other, C-B related news, Brazzaville and Turkey have agreed to open consulates.

At 40mtpa, Turkey is Europe's largest steel producer, just ahead of Germany.

Also

https://www.economist.com/business/2022/05/07/turkish-builders-are-thriving-in-africa

ATB

Oops!

Link

https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2023/04/06/abu-dhabi-s-grand-gold-and-coltan-designs-in-the-drc,109932235-eve

At least in DRC, Abu Dhabi seems interested in making some other in-country investments to keep its port busy :

Abu Dhabi's grand gold and coltan designs in the DRC

United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed and his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.

6/4/2023

Felix Tshisekedi's private office is radically overhauling the Congolese mining sector while putting the finishing touches to an unprecedented partnership with the United Arab Emirates, which has expressed an interest in a dozen mining permits. [...]

Nasty stuff, coltan - historically mostly extracted by artesanal (= child) labour.

Maybe AbuDhabi's not too concerned about the 'ES' bits of ESG...

;-

And here's another race that's on : AD Ports/C-B vs DP World/DRC.....

https://meconstructionnews.com/51079/dp-world-commences-construction-new-banana-port-in-dr-congo

CONSTRUCTIONDP World commences construction new Banana Port in DR Congo

February 3, 2022

First deep-water port in the country will help transform it into a regional trade hub

DP World, a leading provider of smart supply chain solutions, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have laid the first stone to mark the start of construction of the new Banana Port.

The ceremony was attended by Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, President of the DRC, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, as well as members of the DRC Government, public representatives and members of the local community.

The new port is being developed at Banana, along the country’s 37km coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in Kongo Central province. Following its completion, it will provide significant cost and time savings that will boost the country’s trade.

The Congolese port will feature the latest technology and equipment and boast a 600-m quay with an 18m draft, capable of handling the largest vessels in operation, the statement added.

It will also have a container handling capacity of about 450 000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) per year, and a 30-hectare yard to store containers.

With Qatar, somehow, joining the fray :

https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2022/02/09/dp-world...

DRC : DP World, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Ports set to lock horns over …

WebFeb 9, 2022 · The Dubai-owned port operator DP World, which on 31 January began work on the construction of the deepwater port of Banana on DRC's short Atlantic coast, has so far refrained from mentioning its appetite for Matadi.The management of the river port is however included in the contract for Banana, which was signed between DP World and the …

And then MSC throwing its hat into the ring...

https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2022/09/16/swiss...

DRC : Swiss shipping company causes ripples with launch of Matadi port …

WebSep 16, 2022 · Emirati port operator DP World is disgruntled by its Swiss rival MSC's move to renovate the Matadi river port in the DRC. The government is hoping the two companies can share the site peacefully. - 9/16/2022 ... Bin Sulayem wrote a letter to Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi citing the agreement about the Banana port that his company had .....

Shades of the US 's Wild West....

;->

.."Were that to be the case then Zanaga would then have 2 competing export options; by slurry pipe and/or new rail line..."

Buses, eh ?.....

We should be so lucky !

;->

Maybe this railway is Russia's way of getting back into the 'great Game' ? It would certainly raise BRICS's profile as the 'colonized turned colonists'.

https://www.biznews.com/interviews/2023/07/07/wagner-sa-extremely-likely-meddle-election

https://www.biznews.com/africa/2023/07/11/wagner-maintain-african-operations

How much it would benefit the benighted unfortunates in CAR is moot, I suppose anything is preferable to their present situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic

.."Despite (or arguably because of) its significant mineral deposits and other resources, such as uranium reserves, crude oil, gold, diamonds, cobalt, lumber, and hydropower, as well as significant quantities of arable land, the Central African Republic is among the ten poorest countries in the world, with the lowest GDP per capita at purchasing power parity in the world as of 2017.

As of 2021, according to the Human Development Index (HDI), the country had the fourth-lowest level of human development, ranking 188 out of 191 countries.

The country had the lowest inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), ranking 156th out of 156 countries.

The Central African Republic is also estimated to be the unhealthiest country as well as the worst country in which to be young."

'Intriguing' indeed!

Certainly, on the face of it, something of a distraction from lil' old ZIOC.

;-