Category: Mining
Ghanaian Chief Pleads For Government to Better Protect His Community’s Land From Illegal Chinese Miners
A local chief in southern Ghana convened a press conference over the weekend to issue a public appeal for the government to do more to protect his community's land against illegal Chinese miners. Nana Gyamera Kwabena Yiakwah II claimed that Chinese ...
Sinosteel Signs Iron Ore Deal with Cameroon
The Chinese state-owned steelmaker Sinosteel signed a $690 million deal to mine iron ore at southern Cameroon’s Lobe Mine. The deal is part of China’s ongoing attempts to lessen its dependence on Australian iron ore, as it also diversifies its sourcing away from other major ...
China and the Future of Environmental Governance in Ghana
Ghana's worsening economic crisis is prompting concerns it will further erode the country's already weak environmental governance system that Chinese actors have profited from in the mining, fishing, and timber sectors. Meantime, local communities across the country suffer amid declining fish ...
Damning Report Documents How Small-Scale Chinese Cobalt Miners in the DR Congo Use Child Labor
The popular Congolese news site Actualites.CD published an in-depth report by Lumbubashi-based journalist Anto Mulanga that details the widespread use of child labor in small-scale mines in the southeastern cobalt mining belt. While the report is not exclusively focused ...
Chinese Miner Sinomine Announces Pivot Away from Zambia, Citing Debt Crisis
The Chinese mineral exploration and mining company Sinomine (aka China Mining Resources Group) announced on Tuesday that it’s withdrawing from a mining and construction contract with the Zambian government because of Zambia’s debt crisis and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company
TRANSLATION: Chinese Ambassador Zhu Jing Reflects on His First Visit to the Congo’s Strategically Vital Southern Mining Zone
Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, is back in Kinshasa now after a week-long tour earlier this month to the country's strategically important mining zones in Lualaba and Katanga Provinces. Those two regions are at the heart of a rapidly escalating geopolitical ...
How Chinese Companies Came to Dominate the DR Congo’s Mining Sector
Bloomberg journalists Michael Kavanagh and William Clowes are the subjects of a new mini-documentary that explains how China became the dominant foreign mining power in the DR Congo. The 17-minute video doesn't provide any new information about the origins ...
Chinese Cobalt Stakeholders Weigh In on Durban Chaos
The impact of the floods that disrupted operations at South Africa’s Durban harbor is being felt throughout the cobalt supply chain. The Swiss cobalt miner Glencore reacted by declaring force majeure, but so far little has been heard from the Chinese companies that dominate ...
Rwandan Court’s Prison Sentence for Chinese Mining Boss Sparks Passionate Response Online
The Karongi Intermediate Court in Rwanda's decision to hand down a hefty prison sentence on Tuesday to Chinese mining boss Sun Shujun for brutally beating his employees sparked an outpouring of emotion online. "The Chinese are there mining the minerals and stealing ...
Chinese Embassy in Nigeria Suddenly Discovers the Environmental Impact of Chinese Illegal Mining
The Chinese embassy in Nigeria has hurriedly expressed support for calls to clean up the Osun River, which feeds into the densely inhabited Lagos lagoon, following months of reporting that Chinese mining companies are partly responsible for polluting the waterway with ...