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Building on funding commitments from the AfDB, US and EU, work is accelerating on the Angola-DRC-Zambia rail network. The Lobito Corridor’s first phase has already seen faster, cheaper exports of Copperbelt minerals and a feasibility study on a Zambian spur is due. Washington is now mulling support for a potential extension of the corridor to the Indian Ocean, which could compete with Chinese plans to rehabilitate the Tazara link, but might even lead to co-operation with Beijing.

Despite an Angolan-brokered ceasefire signed on 30 July between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, rebels of the Alliance du Fleuve Congo and their M23 allies are moving north towards Butembo. Their advance along Lake Edward could reach the DRC’s Albertine Graben oil blocks, though these have been unlicensed for several years.

Norway’s Scatec is selling a majority stake of its hydroelectric power joint venture with Norfund and British International Investment, which is involved in projects in Uganda, Malawi, and a trilateral Great Lakes development.

Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines’ addition of 10MW at the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in DRC fits into a wider plan to add 200MW thermal capacity to compensate for Snel transmission network bottlenecks.

Re-elected amid some controversy for a second term, President Félix Tshisekedi, is promising accelerated reform, while multilateral officials and ambitious executives are again heavily focused on making the ‘transformational’ Grand Inga hydroelectric megaproject work, and miners looking to better exploit global-scale geology are structuring innovative C&I schemes. But enthusiasm about DRC should always be tempered with realism as its politics remain sulphurous, domestic conflicts murderous, and energy and other economics complex.

New York-listed miner Barrick Gold, one of Africa’s largest commercial and industrial (C&I) offtakers, has added solar PV capacity and battery storage to its Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine in western Mali and has started a similar project at Kibali mine in DRC, writes Marc Howard.

While many see doing business in Democratic Republic of Congo as problematic, Africa Finance Corporation is pushing ahead on a trio of schemes involving renewable energy, critical minerals and infrastructure, helped by its status as an African multilateral in which the DRC government is a shareholder.

Rehabilitation of the 178MW turbine at Inga II, along with plans for up to 210MW from on-site generators to tackle grid instability and increased electricity imports from Zambia are all on track, according to Ivanhoe Mines, as the Canadian operator works to provide sufficient power to Democratic Republic of Congo’s strategic Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has signed a joint development agreement for a solar PV plant with Toronto-headquartered SkyPower Global in what could be a ground-breaking project for state utility Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel) – whose record on project delivery has generally been poor.

Robert Friedland’s High Power Exploration (HPX) plans to develop a rail line to take iron ore from its Nimba licence in south-eastern Guinea to a deep-water port at Didia in Liberia. It is the second major Mano River region iron ore rail announcement in recent months following the giant Simandou scheme, and promises to increase demand for electricity from Côte d’Ivoire’s hydroelectric plants.

Rivalry between the world’s two most powerful nations is driving a rush to build strategic export-focused railway infrastructure in Africa on a scale not seen since the height of the Cold War. Washington’s $500m commitment to the minerals export-focused Lobito Corridor has been countered by a $1bn Chinese proposal to rehabilitate the creaking Tazara line. The two megaprojects will have terminals close together in the Copperbelt, but geopolitical considerations are likely to prevent any interconnection, writes Marc Howard.

Primera Gold, a joint venture between the Democratic Republic of Congo and United Arab Emirates, aims to more than quadruple the amount of gold it exports from DRC this year, despite criticism from a UN panel.

South Africa’s EPCM Holdings has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a 10,000m3 diesel storage facility at the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in Lualaba province. Kamoa-Kakula is one of the world’s top ten copper projects in terms of annual production.

The United Arab Emirates has stepped in to finance Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s long-desired oil refinery, as the UAE ramps up its sub-Saharan business activity. Junior foreign minister Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been making yet more visits around the continent, also taking in Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola’s Cabinda enclave in January.

The Armed Forces of Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) co-ordinator of military operations in North Kivu, Lieutenant General Fall Sikabwe on 16 January announced the launch of joint operations with Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces in eastern DRC, mainly drawn from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi. They will be targeting 23 March Movement (M23) rebels, who are widely believed to be backed by Rwanda.