(Reuters) &#8211; Harmony Gold Mining Company said on Tuesday that it expects limited gold production during the 21-day lockdown in South Africa in the wake of the fast-spreading coronavirus. 



The South Africa-based miner said that it expects to only produce between 650kg to 700kg of gold in South Africa during the lockdown. 



(Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21I0TF-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21I0TF-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

Harmony Gold sees lower gold production during 21-day lockdown

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Nigeria’s Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, says the country will hopefully export gold officially for the first time in history by the end of the year, as the construction of a mine for its gold project in Osun State is ongoing. He spoke to CNBC Africa’s Chris Bishop on the side-lines of the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

#MiningIndaba2020: “Nigeria’s gold exportation has potential to surpass oil and gas” – Minister Olamilekan Adegbite

(Reuters) &#8211; Barrick Gold Corp said it had reached a deal to settle a long-running tax dispute between Tanzania and mining group Acacia, which Barrick bought in a $1.2 billion transaction approved by a British court last month.



The tax deal includes the payment of $300 million to settle outstanding tax and other disputes, the lifting of a concentrate export ban, and the sharing of future economic benefits from mines on a 50-50 basis, Barrick said in a statement on Sunday.



&#8220;Barrick is definitely back in Tanzania,&#8221; Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow told reporters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial capital on Sunday.



&#8220;A true partnership can only be described when you have 50/50 and our joint venture with the government of Tanzania is exactly that &#8211; a committed partnership to develop Tanzania’s gold assets for the benefit of all stakeholders,&#8221; said Bristow.



A new operating company named Twiga Minerals will be formed to manage the Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Buzwagi mines after a review by Tanzania&#8217;s attorney general, the statement added.



Under the agreement, the Tanzanian government will also buy a 16% shareholding in each of the mines.



&#8220;This company has been registered in Tanzania and it will be headquartered in Mwanza, Tanzania,&#8221; Palamagamba Kabudi, Tanzania’s foreign minister said.



Kabudi, speaking at the news conference, said the deal marked a new partnership with Barrick under the new Twiga Minerals name.



&#8220;Twiga will make our new partnership an example to other mining ventures who are investing in Tanzania and who want to invest in Tanzania.&#8221;



He said details of the deal would be submitted to the country&#8217;s attorney general for review and he expected that to be completed by November 15.



An Africa-focused international dispute resolution framework will also be established as part of the agreement, Barrick said.



The deal comes days after the Canadian company fell short of analysts&#8217; estimates for third-quarter gold production due to low output at its North Mara mine in Tanzania.



(Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru and Nuzulack Dausen in Dar es Salaam Editing by David Holmes and Jane Merriman)

What you need to know about Barrick Gold’s deal with Tanzania over Acacia Mining

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) &#8211; Tanzania&#8217;s earnings from gold exports rose 25.1% in the year to August, buoyed by higher output of the precious metal, its central bank said on Thursday.



Gold exports fetched $1.91 billion in the year ending August 31, up from $1.53 billion the previous year.



&#8220;Gold export rose by 25.1 percent … driven by volume, and accounted for more than half of non-traditional exports,&#8221; the Bank of Tanzania said in its latest monthly economic report.



It did not give figures for export volumes.



Africa’s fourth-biggest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali hopes its mining sector will rebound after a tax crackdown and overhaul of its mining code in 2017 spooked foreign investors.



Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who took office in late 2015, is pushing for more revenue from the sector, which is a relatively small contributor to national output.



In 2017, the government passed laws the industry complained would be costly and onerous.



Among the measures were higher taxes on mineral exports, mandated a higher government stake in some mining operations, and forced the construction of local smelters, a move some companies saw was uneconomic.



Tanzania’s current account deficit widened 30.9% in the year to August, underpinned by an increase in imports.



The gap widened to $2.18 billion in the 12 months to August from $1.67 billion in the same period in 2018.



Imports of goods and services rose 6.1% to $10.52 billion, while total exports rose slightly to $8.77 billion from $8.71 billion previously, the bank said.



Earnings from tourism, the main source of foreign exchange, rose to $2.34 billion from $2.32 billion previously, helped by more visitor arrivals.



Reporting by Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala; Editing by Clement Uwiringiyimana and Karishma Singh

Tanzania gold export earnings rise by 25% in year to August

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Sibanye-Stillwater is in talks over a potential acquisition of the world’s deepest gold mine, Mponeng, as current owner AngloGold Ashanti plans its South African exit, Sibanye said on Thursday.



A spokesman for the diversified miner confirmed the talks, after AngloGold said in May that it would review divestment options for Mponeng and other South African assets to focus on higher returns elsewhere.



“We have said we are open minded to the opportunity,” Sibanye chief executive Neal Froneman said.



“We are not panting after more deep-level gold mines but there are significant synergies and opportunities between Driefontein and Mponeng.”



He declined to comment further due to a non-disclosure agreement.



Sibanye swung into the red in the first half as a five-month strike at its South African gold operations weighed on profits despite improved financial results from the South African and U.S. platinum group metals (PGMs) operations.



Sibanye on Thursday reported a headline loss for the six months to end June of 54 cents per share, compared with a profit of 4 cents per share a year before.



“We have successfully navigated our way through this challenging period and I am confident that we have emerged in a stronger position,” Froneman said in a statement.



A five-month strike at the firm’s gold operations over pay and job cuts, which ended in April and cost Sibanye more than $100 million in lost revenue, also hit gold output.



Bullion production for the period fell to 344,752 ounces from 598,517 ounces a year earlier.



The miner, which is currently engaged in wage negotiations in the platinum sector, said it would be able to sustain a strike in the sector but that it was an unlikely scenario as negotiations were ongoing.



The sector’s majority union the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which originally demanded a hike of around 48%, said earlier this month that the offer by Sibanye for the Lonmin operations was a “slap in the face”.



Sibanye, which concluded the Lonmin acquisition in June to become the world’s second-largest platinum producer, said the assets were currently under a review which would be concluded during the third quarter.



“Whilst the improved PGM price environment may justify extending the operating lives of some of these operations, thereby mitigating the impact on job losses, a number of shafts have finite reserves and derive limited benefit from higher PGM basket prices,” Sibanye said.



Platinum prices are up 15% this year, while those of sister metal palladium are nearly 17% higher.



Froneman said a supportive precious metals price and a positive operational outlook would benefit earnings and cash flow in the second half, enabling it to pay down debt and possibly resume cash dividends payments in 2020.



Sibanye last paid a dividend in February 2016.



The firm said debt reduction will continue to be a priority after it was delayed by the impact of this year’s strike on its South African gold business.



Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Susan Fenton, Kirsten Donovan

Sibanye-Stillwater in talks over potential acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine

By Clare Church, Research Officer with International Institute for Sustainable Development.
The gold in our watches, the diamonds in our rings, the tin in our smartphones – all have been classified as conflict minerals, due to their role in funding armed groups and incentivizing human rights abuses in fragile states.
But what about the metals and minerals found in our solar panels, wind turbines, or electric vehicles?
Many of the minerals central to green energy technologies – including cobalt, rare earths and lithium – are found in high concentrations in states struggling with fragility, weak governance, and corruption. Increased demand for these minerals in order to meet the needs of the low carbon economy has already placed intense pressure on some mining sites, aggravating local grievances and fueling violence.
As demand for green energy technologies continues to surge, it is essential that the minerals used to develop and deploy these technologies are sourced in a way that supports peace and sustainable development. Failing to do so runs the risk of dirtying the supply chains of the clean energy systems vital to the low-carbon transition.
Cobalt, for example, is critical to the development of electric vehicles and energy storage technologies, and is found in three out of the four major lithium-ion batteries on the market. More than 56 per cent of cobalt reserves, however, are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – a country plagued with chronic violence and instability.
DRC is one of the world’s most resource-rich nations. But, as has been well documented, this wealth that has yet to translate into longer-term, sustainable development gains for its population. The country hosts some of the world’s largest reserves of tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (3TG), which are among the most notorious conflict minerals. When mined in a context of fragility and corruption, the exploitation of these minerals has funded the continued activities of armed groups at a cost of appalling human suffering, including sexual violence, child labour, and death.
The mining of cobalt in the DRC has already been tied to some of the same exploitative and violent practices seen in the mining of 3TG. In 2016, Amnesty International found that some cobalt miners in the country were exposed to harmful chemicals, lacked protective equipment, were subject to violence, and were victims of extortion by state officials. The report also found that some cobalt operations in the south of the country employed children for less than $2 per day.
Unlike 3TG however, cobalt is not explicitly included in effective legislation concerning conflict minerals, most notably the US’ Dodd-Frank Act Section 1502 and the upcoming EU Conflict Mineral Regulation.
Lithium – a mineral found in electric vehicles and energy storage technologies – is also notably absent from global conflict mineral conversations. About 60 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves are found in the ‘Lithium Triangle’: the border region between Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. Lithium mining in this region, however, requires massive amounts of water – a major source of grievance for surrounding communities in an already water-stressed region. Nearby, Brazil is currently the world’s seventh largest producer of Lithium and has more reserves than production, making expectations long-term there for the industry.
Just south of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, a number of public demonstrations have broken out in opposition to proposed extensions of existing mining operations. Similar grievances tied to water usage have also been expressed near Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia and in the province of Jujuy, Argentina.
Lithium demand is only expected to accelerate. Some estimates suggest that demand will surpass global supply by 2023 – driving prices to an unprecedent level. A failure to engage local communities in the responsible extraction of lithium could exacerbate already heated tensions and threaten the global supply chains of critical green energy technologies.
Beyond cobalt and lithium, there are a number of other minerals that are crucial to the development of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and energy storage technologies. These include base metals like copper, nickel, and iron; precious metals like silver and tellurium; and rare earths. All are found in high concentrations in states struggling with fragility and corruption.
Approximately 28 per cent of bauxite and alumina reserves– required for all listed green energy technologies – are found, for example, in very fragile states, as defined by the Fund for Peace’s Fragile States Index. Similarly, almost 100 per cent of chromium and graphite reserves – critical for wind technologies and energy storage – are found in states with mid to high levels of corruption, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Mineral recycling and substitution have the potential to relieve some of this pressure on extraction operations in resource-rich fragile states. However, most of the minerals in question continue to have poor end of life collection and recycling rates. It is unclear if these processes will sufficiently develop in time to help meet the predicted, growing demand for these minerals.
Progress has been made in curbing the illegal flow of conflict minerals like diamonds, gold, and tin. It is now imperative that civil society groups, the private sector, and governments work together to build off of these successes and apply their lessons togreen energy supply chains. This will include stronger efforts to empower local communities, ensure conflict-free supply chains, and promote transparent and accountable mining practices. Only then will the transition to a low-carbon economy be truly green, clean, and conflict-free.

OpEd: How metals and minerals play a role in funding armed groups in Africa

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, May 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe needs up to $11 billion to modernise its mines and boost production to maximum capacity over the next five years, the head of the country’s Chamber of Mines said on Friday.
Foreign investor interest in the southern African nation is growing after the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe following a de facto military coup last November but projects are still constrained by lack of funding.
Batirai Manhando, Chamber of Mines president, said with the exception of platinum producers, all other mines, including those of gold, nickel, cobalt and coal were operating below their installed capacity.
Mining generates more than half of Zimbabwe’s export receipts — last year it earned $2.8 billion — but industry executives say it has the potential to earn more with increased investment.
“The local mining industry is currently operating below capacity on the back of capital shortages,” Manhando told an annual meeting of the mining chamber.
“At the beginning of the year the capital intensive industry required $7 billion for both ramp-up and sustenance capital. The figure has lately been revised upwards to $11 billion with renewed interest in our sector,” Manhando said.
Zimbabwe holds the second largest deposits of platinum and chrome after South Africa and has lately seen increased interest from lithium investors, who however say funding still remains a hurdle.
Manhando said mining companies in Zimbabwe faced problems that included high costs of electricity, labour and royalty fees when compared to other jurisdictions. There had also been little exploration in the country since 2000, he added.
Equipment at most mines was more than 50 years old, severely undermining efficiency and cost effectiveness of the sector, said Manhando.
Mines Minister Winston Chitando said the government would announce a new “mining vision” at the end of June and projected that the output of gold could rise to 85 tonnes in five years.
Output of gold, the biggest mineral by earnings, is expected to rise to 30 tonnes this year from 23 tonnes in 2017, according to Ministry of Mines data. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Keith Weir)

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

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Liam Bullock | Research Fellow, University of Aberdeen
To the west of Ethiopia near the Sudanese border lies a place called the Asosa zone. This may be the location of the oldest gold mine in the world. Dating back some 6,000 years, it provided a key source of gold to the ancient Egyptian empire, whose great wealth was famous throughout the known world. It may even have supplied the Queen of Sheba with her lavish gifts of gold when she visited King Solomon of Israel almost 3,000 years ago.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18585 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gold_-_luxury_rules.jpg" alt="Gold Fields earnings rise as low-cost mines boost output" width="1024" height="768" />
The excitement in this part of the world is more about the future, however. Some local inhabitants already make a living from prospecting, and several mining companies have been active in the area in recent years, too.
Treasure trail
But what comes next could be on a much bigger scale: I have just co-published with my colleague, Owen Morgan, new geological research that suggests that much more treasure might be buried under the surface of this east African country than was previously thought.
The Asosa zone is made up of flatlands, rugged valleys, mountainous ridges, streams and rivers. It is densely vegetated by bamboo and incense trees, with remnants of tropical rainforests along the river valleys. The zone, which is part of Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, is spotted with archaeological sites containing clues to how people lived here thousands of years ago, together with ancient mining pits and trenches.
Local inhabitants have long taken advantage of these riches. They pan for gold in Asosa’s streams and also extract the precious metal directly from outcropping rocks.
More substantial exploitation of the region’s riches dates back to the Italian invasion of the 1930s. The Italians explored the Welega gold district in West Welega, south-east of Asosa.
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, believed the country had the potential to become a global leader in gold. But when the revolutionary Derg government deposed him and the country plunged into civil war, gold mining disappeared off the agenda for a decade and a half. It took until the early 2000s before the government started awarding exploration licences.
Several mines are up and running, neither of them in Asosa. One is at Lega Dembi slightly to the east, owned by Saudi interests. The other, at Tigray in the north of the country, is owned by American mining giant Newmont, and just started production late last year.
More is already on the way: the beneficiary of the Italian efforts from the 1930s in Welega is the Tulu Kapi gold prospect, containing 48 tonnes of gold. This was most recently acquired in 2013 by Cyprus-based mining group KEFI Minerals (market value: roughly US$2.3 billion (£1.7 billion)).
As for Asosa, the Egyptian company ASCOM made a significant gold discovery in the zone in 2016. It published a maiden resource statement that claimed the presence of – curiously the same number – 48 tonnes of gold. Yet this only looks like the beginning.
<h2>Au-some potential?</h2>
The Asosa zone geology is characterised by various kinds of volcanic and sedimentary rocks that are more than 600 million-years-old. The region has been intensely deformed by geological forces, resulting in everything from kilometre-long faults to tiny cracks known as veins which are only centimetres in length.
Some of these veins contain quartz, and it is mainly here that the region’s gold accumulated between 615m and 650m years ago – along with silver and various other minerals. The gold came from molten materials deep within the Earth finding their way upwards during a process known as subduction, where tectonic forces drive oceanic crust beneath a continent. This is comparable to the reasons behind gold deposits in island arcs like some of the ones in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Our field observations and panning suggest that gold should be generally abundant across the Asoza zone – both in quartz veins but also elsewhere in the schist and pegmatite rocks in which they are located. We also see signs of substantial graphite deposits, which are important for everything from touch-screen tablets to lithium-ion batteries.
There is undoubtedly much more world-class gold within this area than has already been discovered, pointing to a promising source of income for the government for years to come – much of the region remains unexplored, after all. It probably is no exaggeration to say that Ethiopia’s gold potential could rival South Africa’s, which would put it somewhere around the top five gold producing nations in the world.
There are still some substantial challenges, however. Dealing with governmental red tape can be difficult. In an area like the Asosa zone there are dangerous wildlife to avoid, such as venimous snakes, baboons and even monkeys. The vegetation also becomes forbiddingly wild during wet seasons.
It is also important to strike up good working relationships with local inhabitants, showing the utmost respect to local cultures – it’s the ethical way to operate, and failing to do so can make life harder with the authorities in the capital. This includes the need to preserve the natural beauty of the region; gold mining already has a very bad international reputation for environmental damage.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90408/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />With the right approach, however, western Ethiopia will be a literal gold mine that could bring economic benefit to the region. What the Queen of Sheba may have known 3,000 years ago, the modern world is finally rediscovering today.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Ethiopia could be sitting on one of world’s great untapped gold deposits

Gold prices were little changed after marking a 7-week low on Tuesday, as equities and the dollar were buoyed in Asian trade by upbeat economic data and strong U.S. treasury yields.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,269.71 an ounce by 0713 GMT, after earlier touching its lowest since mid-August at $1,267.76.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery shed 0.3 percent to $1,272.60 an ounce.
“Gold no doubt is struggling for the moment as at least three variables are arrayed against it, namely, a stronger dollar, a higher rate environment and possibly a reduction in tensions with North Korea if tentative contacts revealed over the weekend amount to something,” INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.
“We see gold possibly getting to a low of $1,245 before running into some credible support.”
The dollar on Tuesday rose versus the yen and climbed to its highest since mid-August against a basket of major currencies, extending gains from the previous session when it rose on higher U.S. Treasury yields and strong manufacturing data. [US/]
Proposed U.S. tax reforms and growing odds of a December interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve have also helped support the greenback.
Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Monday said the central bank would need to “look hard” at whether it should raise rates in December, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari earlier that day said he would want to wait on rate hikes.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, adding pressure on greenback-denominated, non-yielding gold.
Meanwhile, the White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programmes.
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Spot gold may find support in a zone of $1,260-$1,263 per ounce, and then start a decent bounce, Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said.
In other precious metals, silver had edged down 0.1 percent to $16.53 an ounce after earlier matching its lowest since Aug.9, which it originally hit yesterday.
Platinum and palladium were both 0.2-percent higher at $912.40 and $911.50 an ounce respectively, having hit price parity for the first time in 16 years last week.
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Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford
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Gold falls to 7-week low as dollar firms

Gold slipped to its lowest in nearly seven weeks early on Monday as the U.S. dollar rose and equities gained, while growing expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December also added to pressure.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,274.90 an ounce by 0353 GMT, after earlier touching its lowest since mid-August at $1,273.55.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery shed 0.5 percent to $1,277.80.
The metal recorded its biggest monthly decline so far this year in September, despite netting a quarterly rise of nearly 3 percent partly due to geopolitical tensions including North Korea’s missile tests.
“The dollar is a bit stronger this morning and put gold under pressure first thing this morning so we took out Friday’s low. China’s out for Golden week so it’s just moving on the back of what the dollar yen’s doing,” a Hong Kong-based trader said.
“Gold might just keep drifting lower until the Chinese return. There’s nothing really to excite gold at the moment.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time a day after his own secretary of state said the United States was maintaining open lines of communication with North Korea.
The dollar stood tall against the euro and other major counterparts on Monday and Asian shares rose as investors kept an close eye on an independence vote in Spain’s Catalonia.
The U.S. currency recorded its best week of the year on Friday, despite benign inflation data for August, as expectations that the Fed would raise interest rates again in December loomed large after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank planned to stay on its current rate hike path.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said Friday he still has “pencilled in” a rate hike in December, and three more hikes next year.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, weighing on greenback-denominated gold.
Spot gold may drop into a range of $1,261-$1,267 per ounce, as it has cleared a support at $1,277, Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said.
Speculators reduced their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Sept. 26, U.S. data showed on Friday.
Silver and palladium were little changed at $16.60 an ounce and $934.30 an ounce, while platinum lost 0.2 percent at 907.40 and continued to trade at a discount to platinum for a fourth consecutive day.
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Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford
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Gold drops to lowest in nearly 7 weeks

Judith Verweijen | Ghent University
The past year has been challenging for the Canadian mining corporation Banro. The company holds four gold mining concessions in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Namoya concession in Maniema province went into production in January 2016 but the company was forced to temporarily suspend operations and evacuate staff in May and July this year.
The suspensions were related to threats from a local armed group to attack the operation. These were not isolated incidents but followed a string of violent attacks, property destruction, ambushes and kidnappings of workers.
The company president and CEO, John Clarke blamed the violence on “a few bandits” he believes are a remnant of the country’s difficult past, not on discontent and poverty that many believe have been made worse by the company’s presence.
But my recently published research shows that these issues are in fact interrelated. Armed groups and local strongmen capitalise on widespread anger towards the company. This anger largely stems from the deep economic crisis in the Namoya region which was caused by the forced closure of artisanal mining sites four years ago. The effects were not only felt by the 6.000 to 10.000 diggers who were forcibly removed, but also by all those depending indirectly on diggers’ incomes, like farmers, shopkeepers, bar-owners and taxing agents.
By claiming to oppose transnational mining companies, armed groups are able to gain popular support. They often do so by drawing on the language of anti-imperialism and neocolonialism, which resonates strongly in the DRC. As a political representative of the coalition of armed groups responsible for the most recent attacks put it:
<blockquote>the government has signed contracts with foreign mining companies that allow them to plunder our resources. This is neocolonialism (…) we will fight it.</blockquote>
Armed groups are also bolstered by competition between local elites and authorities that is fuelled by the influx of resources stemming from mining operations. In a militarised area like the eastern DRC, conflicting local elites and authorities often draw on armed groups to bolster their position. This, in turn, strengthens these groups.
Mining companies would be better served to acknowledge and monitor rather than downplay the effects of their presence on conflicts and armed groups. Arguably, a more conflict-sensitive approach could have prevented the outbreak of violence in Namoya.
<h2>How violence escalated</h2>
Before 2016 there was limited activity by armed groups in the Namoya region. This changed after an escalation of tensions between the company and the people living in the area in January 2016. That month, a protest march against Banro ended in bloodshed. An officer from the Congolese police unit contracted by Banro opened fire on the crowd of protesters, causing the death of one person.
The march was held to protest against what people perceive to be the company’s failure to promptly meet its commitments towards the community, like building health care centres and schools. The impatience is understandable given the dire economic situation in the region. Not only have artisanal miners largely been driven out of business, the company employs limited labour and subcontractors from the area.
Towards the end of 2016, armed groups began ambushing vehicles from Banro’s logistics subcontractors close to Namoya. In March this year, one of these groups also directly attacked Banro’s facilities, taking a number of employees hostage.
The group responsible for taking the employees hostage demanded that the company construct basic infrastructure in the area as one of the conditions for releasing the hostages. Namoya’s population has remained divided about the attacks, but many sympathise with the armed group’s stance. This has allowed the group to harness crucial support from community members, like financial contributions and intelligence.
<h2>Neither criminal nor ideological</h2>
There is a tendency to see armed groups in dichotomous terms: as either ideological and having a political agenda or as criminal and pursuing material self interest. The reality is much more complex.
There’s no doubt that there’s a good dose of self interest in armed groups’ antagonism towards Banro. They have tried to benefit financially from ransom payments and “protection fees” paid by logistics subcontractors to avoid ambushes. Many armed groups also depend on artisanal mining for some of their income, imposing forced contributions on diggers and pit-owners. So the closure of artisanal mining sites by industrial companies threatens their income.
But this doesn’t mean they are simply criminals looking only for self-enrichment. Armed groups articulate widespread grievances, including growing discontent with the DRC’s political leadership and the delay in holding elections.
These grievances don’t legitimise the use of violence. But they create a measure of sympathy among the population for those claiming to fight the perceived source of their hardships.
There is a general fear that the expansion of industrial mining in the eastern DRC will eventually wipe out the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. This sector, which also mines tin, tantalum and tungsten, is estimated to employ 9-17% of the total population of the Kivu provinces. Its economic importance is however much bigger as money earned with mining is invested in other sectors, like real estate and the trade in consumer goods.
After the mining sites in Namoya were closed, many artisanal miners moved to gold mines in Fizi territory. But an exploration company, CASA Mining, is paving the way for industrial mining in that region and artisanal miners fear being displaced again.
An armed group active in the area plays into these fears. It has encouraged the population to manifest against the company. CASA’s operations have also been attacked. One member of the armed group commented that:
<blockquote>CASA will never work here. All those chased from Salamabila [Namoya] have fled here; they will rather revolt than being chased again.</blockquote>
Industrial mining companies operating in the eastern DRC would do well to acknowledge how their presence feeds into dynamics of conflict and violence rather than obscuring these complexities. As Banro’s plummeting share price over the past year shows, in particular a spectacular 12% drop after the violence in July, this would also be in the company’s own interest.
&nbsp;
This article was first published in The Conversation.

Op-Ed: Shedding light on why mining companies in eastern Congo are under attack

South Africa&#8217;s Sibanye Gold said on Monday that 178 illegal miners have now been arrested at its Cooke operations since the start of a violent wildcat strike last Tuesday.
A company source, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak on the record, also said the strike was continuing. The strike was triggered by worker resentment at a company drive to root out illegal miners, who pilfer gold from its shafts after gaining access by employee collusion.
The illegal miners arrested have been forced to come to the surface because of the strike, which has emptied the shafts of employees, thereby starving them of their sources of food and water underground &#8211; an inadvertent consequence of the stoppage.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard, editing by Louise Heavens)

South Africa’s Sibanye says 178 illegal miners now arrested at strike-hit Cooke mine

By Vijaykumar Vedala
Gold held steady after hitting its highest in over six weeks earlier on Monday, buoyed by disappointing U.S. jobs data that appeared to dilute the prospects for an aggressive string of interest rate hikes in the United States.
U.S. job growth slowed in May and employment gains in the prior two months were not as strong as previously reported, suggesting the labor market was losing momentum despite the unemployment rate falling to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.
Spot gold had climbed 0.1 percent to $1,280.74 per ounce by 0352 GMT. It hit a peak of $1,281.95 an ounce early in the session, its strongest since April 21.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up 0.2 percent at $1,283.3 an ounce.
Palladium on Monday matched its June 2 high of $843.10 an ounce, which was the metal&#8217;s strongest since September 2014.
<blockquote>&#8220;We do expect gold to hit some turbulence as we approach the June Fed rate hike, but things could open up for the precious metal post-meeting if the central bank&#8217;s language remains dovish,&#8221; INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note</blockquote>
Higher interest rates put pressure on gold prices by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
&#8220;We had an excellent Friday where gold really reacted. It is taking a pause in Asian trading this morning,&#8221; said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes referring to the 1.1-percent jump in prices for the metal prices in the previous session.
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
Meanwhile, following a militant attack on a nightlife district of London this weekend, British Prime Minister Theresa May will resume campaigning on Monday for the national election due in three days. The vote is expected to be much tighter than previously predicted.
&#8220;(European elections have) been an underlying supportive factor for some time providing some good safe-haven buying but not enough to spark any panic buying. That&#8217;s why we think things will be relatively subdued,&#8221; Hynes said.
Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week, hitting the highest level in nearly a month, and also raised it in silver, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, edged higher on Monday, but was not far from Friday&#8217;s nadir of 96.654, its lowest since Nov. 9.
Among other precious metals, silver hit a high of $17.585 an ounce early in the session, its strongest since April 26. Platinum was down 0.6 pct at $946.10.
(Additional reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Gold hits highest in over 6 weeks as US jobs data disappoints

Tanisha Heiberg | JOHANNESBURG
Police recovered 25 bodies, believed to be those of illegal miners, from a disused Harmony Gold mine shaft, near an area where 76 illegal miners died in 2009 in what was one of South Africa&#8217;s worst mining disasters.
The bodies were recovered from the Eland shaft near the town of Welkom, following a gas explosion late last week, in an area where disused mines without commercially viable amounts of gold still hold enough deposits to attract illegal mining syndicates.
Illegal gold mining has plagued South Africa&#8217;s mining companies for decades, robbing the industry and state coffers of billions of rand through smalltime pilfering as well as networks run by organised crime.
Police confirmed that 11 illegal miners survived and believe that more could still be inside. The illegal miners are known in Zulu as &#8216;zama-zamas&#8217;, which loosely translates as &#8216;those who try to get something from nothing&#8217;.
<blockquote>&#8220;There was an explosion that erupted last week Thursday and as a result of that it caused the death of the illegal miners,&#8221; police spokesman Major General Lerato Molale said.</blockquote>
He said it was likely the blast was caused by the miners themselves.
The bodies of 76 illegal miners were brought to the surface at the Eland shaft in 2009 following a fire that raged at the mine in the central Free State province.
Sibanye Gold is the first company to set itself a deadline to stop the practice, and has vowed to clear all illegal miners from its shafts by the end of January next year.
($1 = 13.1451 rand)
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by James Macharia and Elaine Hardcastle)

Bodies of 25 illegal miners recovered from abandoned South African gold shaft

By Sethuraman N R
Gold slipped on Wednesday as the dollar recovered a bit from a three-week low hit in the previous session, but geopolitical concerns about North Korea and nervousness ahead of the French presidential election lent support to the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent to $1,286.40 per ounce as of 0314 GMT. The metal hit its highest since early November at $1,295.42 on Monday before closing lower, and rose 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 percent at $1,288.80.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday reassured Japan of American commitment to reining in North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile ambitions, after warning that U.S. strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve.
&#8220;The whole situation for gold is more than optimistic because of the geopolitical tensions aroused by North Korea and with the interest rate hike expectations coming down,&#8221; said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong&#8217;s Wing Fung Financial Group.
&#8220;The trading range from $1,200-$1,250 over the past few weeks has been broken convincingly&#8230; We see $1,280 as the gravity around which the trading range will be built and prices will move between $1,270-$1,310.&#8221;
The dollar index edged up, but was hovering near a three-week low on disappointing U.S. housing starts data and nervousness over trade talks between the United States and Japan. [USD/]
In France, investors remained nervous ahead of the first round of the country&#8217;s presidential election this Sunday, even though an opinion poll put centrist Emmanuel Macron first, just ahead of far-right, anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen.
&#8220;Nervousness heading into the French election should theoretically provide some support to gold, but at some point, we think the markets will start to discount a poor showing for Le Pen and perhaps siphon off some of the risk premium already baked into prices,&#8221; said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
&#8220;However, offsetting this somewhat, is the possibility that the dollar will continue to recede on a Le Pen defeat, coupled with the fact that U.S. tax reform and infrastructure spending both seem to be increasingly far removed, painting a rather bullish backdrop for gold.&#8221;
British Prime Minister Theresa May&#8217;s call for a snap general election added to a lengthening list of uncertainties for investors already on edge over geopolitical tensions that also include Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and U.S. relations with Russia and China.
Spot silver dropped 0.2 percent to $18.21 per ounce.
Platinum fell 0.1 percent to $972.45, while palladium was down 0.3 percent at $772. Palladium on Tuesday fell nearly 2 percent to a more than four-week low of $769.80.
(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

TARKA FOREST, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Thousands of unemployed Zimbabweans have turned to illegal gold panning in a bid to survive the country&#8217;s deteriorating economy, leaving a trail of destruction that has alarmed farmers, timber plantation owners and the country&#8217;s environmental authorities. 
Peasant miners have set up makeshift mines on farmland and timber plantations in the country&#8217;s eastern provinces, which border Mozambique where gold fetches a higher price. 
Deep tunnels have been dug beneath roads, railways and buildings in the Kwekwe area of the Midlands province. In some parts of Manicaland province, waterways have been diverted and roads destroyed. 
With more illegal miners likely to exploit the area as the economy continues to slump, and the state placing responsibility to act on landowners, farmers are fearful of irreversible damage to their land, and the risk of losing their livelihoods. 
&#8220;Kwekwe is under siege from illegal miners and some of these miners are very violent. We don&#8217;t know what to do,&#8221; resident Jonas Dube told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
Simon Simango, an illegal gold miner in Chimanimani, Manicaland province, acknowledged that the excavations were having a negative impact on the environment. 
But many workers had run out of options, he said. 
&#8220;This (illegal mining) is our only source of livelihood. Look, there are no jobs in the country,&#8221; Simango told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;We sell most of our gold to illegal buyers from Mozambique who are offering us very good prices.&#8221; 
Miners report that buyers in Zimbabwe paid around $30 per gram of gold while buyers in Mozambique were paying, double at around $60 per gram. 
Zimbabwe has never fully recovered from an economic slump that began in 2000 with the violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms. Unemployment runs at 80 percent, and even those with jobs face unpaid wages and an acute shortage of cash. 
There is no official data on the number of illegal miners in Zimbabwe. 
However, a report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization estimated that between 2007 and 2012, some 500,000 illegal, artisanal gold miners were operating in the country. 
Experts believe these numbers could grow as the economy continues to falter. 
&#8220;SHOCKING&#8221; 
In Tarka Forest, a timber estate owned by Allied Timbers in Chimanimani district, more than 600 hectares of prime timber have been damaged to make way for the illegal digs, according to company executives. 
Manicaland&#8217;s minister of provincial affairs, Mandi Chimene, said in February that illegal gold mining in Tarka Forest had reached &#8220;alarming levels&#8221;, and resulted in the pollution of streams and rivers, and destruction of standing timber. 
&#8220;What is happening in Tarka (Forest) is shocking,&#8221; Chimene said. &#8220;We wonder who is benefiting from the illegal gold because as a country, we are not. Such gold is not going to the legal market.&#8221; 
The government says it is the responsibility of landowners or affected businesses to evict the illegal miners. 
&#8220;If it&#8217;s a forest plantation, it is the responsibility of the timber companies to remove the illegal miners,&#8221; Minister for Mines and Mining Development Walter Chidhakwa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;If an area belongs to the timber plantations, the government cannot legalise gold mining in the area. The companies must put measures in to stop illegal mining in their plantations.&#8221; 
The same rule applies to illegal miners on privately-owned farmland, he said. 
Darlington Duwa, CEO of the Timber Producers Federation, warned of lasting damage as a result of the disappearing forests and water pollution caused by illegal mining. 
&#8220;It (illegal mining) reduces the timber resource, thus affecting direct and indirect employment, economic development, foreign currency earnings and leads to environmental degradation and reduced resilience to climate change effects,&#8221; Duwa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;In some areas illegal miners (settlers) uproot young trees that have been planted,&#8221; Duwa said. &#8220;At this rate, the industry is bound to suffer irreversible damage.&#8221; 
(Reporting by Andrew Mambondiyani, Editing by Paola Totaro; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

Gold rush fever among poor Zimbabweans leaves trail of destruction

NYALIGONGO, Tanzania, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Three years ago, 14-year-old Julius left his family near the lakeside city of Mwanza, Tanzania, to try his luck mining gold.
Today Julius is in no hurry to leave, despite having one of the riskiest jobs on a chaotic mine site &#8211; handling mercury each day with his bare hands.
&#8220;It&#8217;s good work. I&#8217;m paid well,&#8221; Julius, who only wanted to use his first name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, wearing an orange t-shirt and skinny jeans coated red dirt.
Julius, now 17, said he has been working with mercury for three years &#8211; but no one had ever told him it was dangerous.
There are more than four million child labourers in Tanzania aged between 5 and 17, according to a government survey released last year in conjunction with the International Labour Organization. That&#8217;s roughly a third of the country&#8217;s children.
More than three million are doing hazardous jobs, including at illegal mines like the one near Nyaligongo in northern Tanzania where they are exposed to mercury, heavy dust, and work long shifts without safety gear.
The Tanzanian government is aware of the problem but has struggled to keep children out of small, unlicensed mines.
Its laws do not allow children under 14 to work, and hazardous work is not permitted for children over 14. Tanzania has signed all major international conventions on child labour and introduced its own laws to prevent the worst child labour.
But not everyone knows of the child labour laws, including families and local officials.
Government workers tasked with enforcing the laws lack the staff and funds for inspections, let alone pursue prosecutions.
&#8220;In Tanzania we have a good law and strategy to eliminate all kinds of child labour, but the problem here is who is going to implement this at the local level?&#8221; said Gerald Ng&#8217;ong&#8217;a, executive director of Rafiki Social Development Organization (SDO), an NGO that works on child labour in northern Tanzania.
&#8220;Local officials don&#8217;t have enough information about the law and how to protect children.&#8221;
LURE OF GOLD
The problem is especially hard to tackle in the informal sector, said Emma Gordon, senior Africa analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, which ranks Tanzania as the 55th most &#8220;at risk&#8221; country in its 2017 Child Labour Index, due to be published on April 5.
&#8220;The government&#8217;s focus is very much centered around large industrial projects, particularly foreign-owned businesses that would be able to pay fines if violations were discovered,&#8221; Gordon wrote in an email to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In Lake Victoria&#8217;s gold belt, where gold has been extracted since the 1890s, licensed and unlicensed small mines operate with major mining firms close by.
The scrappy &#8220;artisanal&#8221; mines provide a crucial source of income to people outside Tanzania&#8217;s cities, but like the mining site at Nyaligongo, many operate without government licences.
The majority of children working in gold mines are employed by individuals running these unlicensed mines, observers say.
They are among the worst exploited of the mines&#8217; workers, typically earning the equivalent of about 1 euro ($1) a day.
&#8220;Pit owners employ children because they&#8217;re cheap labour,&#8221; said Ng&#8217;ong&#8217;a.
Legal or not, the lure of the mines – and the harsh poverty of the farming communities around them – keep children coming.
Brothers Petromos and Mayalamos, who are 12 and 16, left their village outside Mwanza because they heard there was good money to be made at this mine.
&#8220;The work is difficult,&#8221; said Mayalamos. &#8220;But I can only leave this place once I&#8217;ve earned enough.&#8221;
Nyaligongo village relies on gold to survive.
On the village&#8217;s main street, cramped shops sell vegetables, SIM cards, and lunch to off-duty miners. Middlemen purchase gold from miners to sell in the closest town, Kahama, where it is sold on in bigger cities like Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.
SCHOOL DROPOUTS
More than 8,000 people live in Nyaligongo, says Faustine Masasila, the village&#8217;s secretary and a mine site owner, and more are still arriving.
&#8220;There are people here who used to have very miserable lives,&#8221; Masasila said, walking through the buzzing market. &#8220;If you work hard, you are guaranteed prosperity.&#8221;
At the primary school down the road, teachers are less impressed with mining&#8217;s promise of a good future.
A poster on the school office wall is a testament to the number of children who leave to work when they are old enough. This year, in Class 1, there are 236 students aged six and seven while in Class 7 there are only 40 students aged 13 and 14.
&#8220;I feel very frustrated when children leave and go to the mines instead of going on to secondary school,&#8221; said Mabula Kafuku, the education officer for the ward. &#8220;They don&#8217;t even have enough knowledge to mine safely.&#8221;
Children dropping out of school is a nationwide problem in Tanzania and major impediment to the government&#8217;s aspiration to become a middle-income nation by 2025. A recent Human Rights Watch report found in 2016, more than five million children aged between 7 and 17 were out of school across the country.
For government workers tasked with inspecting mines for health, safety and labour violations, enforcing the law at the far-flung informal mines sprinkled around the Lake Victoria region is an onerous task.
Masasila, the village secretary, cannot recall ever seeing inspectors at the mining site near Nyaligongo.
&#8220;If you have children working in remote areas, you need a budget to visit. We don&#8217;t have such things,&#8221; said Hadija Hersi, a regional labour officer based in Mwanza.
&#8220;That&#8217;s why you have NGOs stepping in to intervene.&#8221;
Indeed, several non-governmental organizations, including Terre des Hommes Netherlands, have been trying to get child workers back in school and help families develop alternate income sources to wean them off their wages.
Since 2014, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, working with Rafiki SDO, has managed to help more than 725 children leave the mines. In Geita, another nearby gold mining area, UK-based Plan International has helped 12,000 children withdraw from small-scale mining work and is trying to reach another 11,600.
But as long as people are struggling to find work outside Tanzania&#8217;s cities, there is only so much NGOs can do.
At the mine, Nyanjige Mwendesha looks on as her three children, ages 10, 12, and 15, sit on the red dusty ground, smashing up rocks with small metal hammers in the midday sun.
Mwendesha brought her family to work here after there wasn&#8217;t enough rain on her farm this year. The family needed the money.
&#8220;When it starts to rain, I&#8217;ll go back to the farm,&#8221; she said.
($1 = 0.9363 euros) (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org)
© Thomson Reuters 2017 All rights reserved

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Bodies of 25 illegal miners recovered from abandoned South African gold shaft

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Gold rush fever among poor Zimbabweans leaves trail of destruction

Tanzania’s battle to end child labour from the lure of gold

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gold

Harmony Gold sees lower gold production during 21-day lockdown

#MiningIndaba2020: “Nigeria’s gold exportation has potential to surpass oil and gas” – Minister Olamilekan Adegbite

What you need to know about Barrick Gold’s deal with Tanzania over Acacia Mining

Tanzania gold export earnings rise by 25% in year to August

Sibanye-Stillwater in talks over potential acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine

OpEd: How metals and minerals play a role in funding armed groups in Africa

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

Ethiopia could be sitting on one of world’s great untapped gold deposits

Gold falls to 7-week low as dollar firms

Gold drops to lowest in nearly 7 weeks

Op-Ed: Shedding light on why mining companies in eastern Congo are under attack

South Africa’s Sibanye says 178 illegal miners now arrested at strike-hit Cooke mine

Gold hits highest in over 6 weeks as US jobs data disappoints

Bodies of 25 illegal miners recovered from abandoned South African gold shaft

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Gold rush fever among poor Zimbabweans leaves trail of destruction

Tanzania’s battle to end child labour from the lure of gold

News Tips

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