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I've just found an article in French in the Brazzaville news from yesterday which states that NGuesso senior is planning to visit the Mayoko project, due to be developed by the Turkish group, Ulsan Mining. It goes on to say that 'In the medium term, Ulsan also plans to establish a smelter in Pointe-Noire'. A quick search hasn't turned up anything to back up this claim but I'll continue to dig after work.

There's nothing to suggest that any potential output from Zanaga would be processed by this plant but if it is being built, it sets an interesting precedent. It also backs up articles from earlier this year describing Nguesso's hope to add more value and create jobs in-country, rather than just exporting the raw materials.

The article is here https://lesechos-congobrazza.com/economie/11565-denis-sassou-n-guesso-bientot-a-mayoko-pour-une-visite-plus-economique-que-politique and you may need Google translate (as I did) to make it readable.

ATB

It's next month (18th March) but we're hoping for further news before then.

It's an intriguing article but for clarity, I think it was from June this year

Hi MM,

I'm intrigued. Is there anything else that you can share?

Many thanks.

My regular trawl of french-language news which mentions both Congo and iron ore has just turned up the following article from last week. It starts

'Relations between Algeria and the Republic of Congo are about to reach a new milestone in the field of mining and energy industries' .

It goes on to talk about Nguesso's interest in collaboration, drawing on Algeria's knowledge of extraction and processing re. Congo's potash and high quality iron ore reserves. Details are thin on the ground and I've more research to do but I thought it might be interesting for the group. -

Original - https://lanouvelletribune.info/2024/11/maghreb-un-pays-africain-veut-sinspirer-de-ce-modele-dans-le-secteur-des-mines/

or translated here - https://lanouvelletribune-info.translate.goog/2024/11/maghreb-un-pays-africain-veut-sinspirer-de-ce-modele-dans-le-secteur-des-mines/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Apologies if this has been posted already but the Congo is hosting an interesting event next March. It looks like it's primary goal is to promote investment in energy and associated infrastructure but the the website mentions a couple of closely allied projects (https://congoenergyinvestment.com/).

"The inaugural Congo Economic and Investment Forum, set for March 26-27, 2025 in Brazzaville, will bring together international investors and local stakeholders to explore national and regional energy and infrastructure opportunities. The event will explore the latest mining sector projects and provide updates on ongoing expansions across the country."

From the main page, there are articles entitled 'New Iron Ore, Phosphate Projects Signal Growth in Congo’s Mining Industry' from a few days ago and 'RoC, China Discuss Implementation of Mining Agreements' from last month.

It's encouraging that CB looks keen to sell its wares and promote investment.

My weekly trawl for any news related to Congo iron ore or steel turned this up from today. In this news vacuum, it's pretty tangential but sometimes it pays to look in the corners (to mix geometrical metaphors) :)

Environment: Turkey seeks Congo's support to host COP31 (https://leseco.ma/international/environnement-la-turquie-sollicite-le-soutien-du-congo-pour-abriter-la-cop31.html)

The parts that interested me were

'It should be noted that Ankara and Brazzaville will soon strengthen their cooperation in the field of the environment through the signing of a protocol and a memorandum.' And '"In pursuit of the goal of net zero emissions, our roadmaps for the steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizer industries have been finalized," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "We intend to increase the proportion of renewable energy to 69% by 2053," he promised when announcing his country's candidacy.'

This got me looking further into Turkish steel and they look well placed to grab more of the EU market , particularly with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (e.g. https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/mena-steel-suppliers-well-positioned-to-grab-bigger-share-of-eu-market/) .

Their biggest sources of ore are Brazil and Ukraine and maybe they're looking for another source? Nothing but pure speculation on my part but holding this stock for 7+ years makes one look to the horizon for news.

ATB.

The recording is on Youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffX3s1TjvGc from about 1hour 25 mins onwards for anyone interested and AT speaks a few times.

Anyone else watching the closing panel session at https://www.futuremineralsforum.com/ (livestream available)? Andrew Trahar is on the panel. I missed the first few mins so don't know if he has spoken already. To be clear, not expecting any revelations but interested in what he might say...

Interesting to note that Andrew Trahar is listed as one of the early confirmed speakers at FMF but is listed as 'Partner and Co-Founder (of) Vision Blue Resources' so is probably there wearing his other hat.

https://www.futuremineralsforum.com/ ('Early Confirmed Speakers' section and you have to scroll through them so see AT).

I've been keeping an eye on today's conference in Riyadh in case there is mention of Nguesso (snr. or jnr.) or any iron ore projects in 'our' neck of the woods. Nguesso snr at least seems to be in the Congolese town of Oyo opening a school according to a recent video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTOQ_JXamxA) . Nguesso snr. was an advocate of Saudi hosting the conference (https://www.arabnews.com/node/2340526/saudi-arabia) so I would have expected his attendance.

Some videos have been posted about the conference and I've only done a quick sift with more to go through tonight but nothing so far. Perhaps someone with better eyes than me or better language skills can spot a representative from the Republic of the Congo or something relevant amongst the postings here - https://www.youtube.com/@MOFKSA2011. Will post if I find anything of interest. GLA

Using Always' term, I definitely qualify as a 'lurker and silent watcher' on this board and check in most days. I'm hugely grateful for the research and opinions posted by MM, Extrader and others over the 5+ years that I been a holder; I would never have found most of it otherwise and it all forms part of the picture. Please keep it coming and I'll contribute if and when I beat anyone to any significant news or related content!

GLALTH

Great idea Extrader. GLA

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I think people are starting to take notice e.g. this article was published earlier today -

https://www.thearmchairtrader.com/zanaga-iron-ore-shares-investors-strap-themselves-in/

I don't know what the readership is and it doesn't add much that we don't know but the line 'As we went to press on this article there was no official news out, but whisperings of a partial or entire takeover of the business.' was intriguing.

GLALTH

I've just found this article reporting the Congolese government's very recent approval of mining conventions for iron deposits in the North of the country in the Sangha region. It's in French but Google translate is your friend.
https://www.adiac-congo.com/content/senat-trois-projets-de-loi-adoptes-pour-lexploitation-du-fer-dans-la-sangha-136797
What is interesting for us is the author's hope that this will lead to the development of a new, north-south railway, steelworks at Pointe-Noire and an iron ore port at Pointe Indienne. All of these have been mentioned before but not recently. Hopefully it marks the start of development of the country's iron resources!
ATB

I do a weekly trawl for any news which might be relevant to Zanaga and the pickings are slim at the moment. The only half-interesting things to come up were a couple of recent meetings, one between the the Congolese president (Nguesso senior) and the Chinese Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs in Brazzaville and one between the Congolese Minister of International Cooperation (Nguesso junior) and the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister in Dakar.

The links to summaries of the exchanges are here but not many conclusions to be drawn other than lines of communication appear to remain open
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zgyw/202112/t20211206_10462978.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2021-11/30/content_77901264.htm

Holding and hoping.

Have a good weekend All.

It looks like the Cameroon government is teeing up the development of the contested Mbalam-Nabeba (ex Sundance) iron ore project on the Cameroon / Republic of Congo border with the help of 'a consortium of five Chinese public companies'. It has been reported that a MOU was signed a week ago for the Chinese to build the 510 km of railway to the Cameroon deep water port at Kribi which seems to be part way through the second phase of expansion. I don't know at what point Kribi could be used as a an ore embarkation port but it seems to be heading in the right direction.

The RoC government revoked concessions on Avima, Badondo and Nabeba (the RoC side of the 'Sundance' project) earlier this year and gave them to the Chinese-backed, Sangha Mining. The revoked concessions are all situated in the North West corner of the RoC, relatively close to the Cameroon border and therefore the potential new link between Mbalam (the Cameroon side of the 'Sundance' project) and Kribi. Presumably Zanaga would be way too far south to justify an extension of this line.

The original article (in French) is here - https://www.cameroonmagazine.com/economique/mine-de-fer-de-mbalam-nabeba-la-lueur-despoir-qui-vient-du-cameroun/
The link to a Google translation is here - https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cameroonmagazine.com%2Feconomique%2Fmine-de-fer-de-mbalam-nabeba-la-lueur-despoir-qui-vient-du-cameroun%2F
One of many articles on the revoked concessions - https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-congorepublic-iron-idUSKBN2B6054

Hi Extrader. Just in case your question was in response to my post about Nguesso's political rival and the French investigation, I think both articles (BBC and EWN links below) refer to it. I've done a quick search for further corroboration but all other articles seem to use the same/similar text so probably the same origin e.g. https://www.zbcnews.co.zw/congo-brazzaville-guy-brice-parfait-kolelas-dies-from-covid-on-poll-day/
I'll dust off my French tomorrow in case I can find an article closer to the source.
For clarity, I've held ZIOC for a number of years and am optimistic about the coming weeks and months but I think it pays to keep a close eye on the political environment, especially in the project news vacuum in which we currently sit.
ATB.

It's interesting (but I suspect a formality) that France are opening a criminal investigation into the death of Kolelas, his main rival.
https://ewn.co.za/2021/03/23/congo-incumbent-poised-for-re-election-after-rival-succumbs-to-covid
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56474855