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Privately-owned indie Perenco has long been a significant upstream player in west and central Africa and it is now extending its position with new discoveries and plans to increase production in Chad, Republic of Congo and elsewhere, as its general manager Benoît de la Fouchardiere tells African Energy.

Canada’s Tantalex Lithium Resources has concluded a lithium marketing offtake agreement with Glencore and secured $5m in convertible loans from the Swiss commodities giant.

US-based developer Husk Power Systems has secured funds from investors, which it will use to scale up its solar mini-grid developments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Husk – which was established in 2008 – claimed its new Series D funding was “the largest-ever equity raise in the mini-grid industry”.

Canada’s Tantalex Lithium Resources expects its early stage Manono lithium tailings project to average production of 112,167m t/yr over a six-year life of mine. African Energy spoke to Tantalex chief executive Eric Allard to get the latest details on the project, including the potential for hydroelectric power supply.

There are pockets of progress in building infrastructure across Democratic Republic of Congo, with commercial operators and development finance institutions supporting a range of projects. But with eastern regions traumatised by violence and an uncertain election looming in December, the country remains as challenging an environment as ever, writes Jon Marks.

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines is expanding its use of hydroelectric power (HEP) wheeled across state utility Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel)’s grid to support its mining activities in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Haut-Katanga province, which include the world-scale Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

Washington has added to its support for the Lobito Corridor by backing a new spur to north-western Zambia. With Brussels now also on board, western efforts to counter Chinese influence over critical minerals are gathering pace.

Ivanhoe Mines has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lobito Atlantic International (LAI) to send copper concentrate mined in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Angola’s Lobito Port by rail. Efforts to improve the route to market for copper and other transition/critical metals from the DRC and Zambia comes as demand is surging.

East African Power (EAP) has taken an 85% stake in two solar photovoltaic projects, the Kolwezi and Likasi independent power producers (IPPs), each with 133MWp capacity in Katanga province.

Toronto-headquartered Tantalex Lithium Resources' United Cominiere SAS subsidiary has started to commission an alluvial tin and tantalum plant in Manono.

Construction of the long-awaited Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya (ZTK) interconnector is expected to start by year-end, according to comments by Zambian utility Zesco’s managing director Victor Mapani to African Energy.

Meetings in July between United Arab Emirates state minister for foreign affairs Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan and leaders from around the continent gave further public expression to the UAE’s interest in promoting mining and other economic opportunities in Africa – along with promoting wider political ties and its hosting of the COP28 climate talks in November.

Barrick Gold has provided details of its plans to add solar PV capacity with battery energy storage at the Kibali gold mine, where its activities are now powered by off-grid hydroelectric power and diesel capacity. Kibali, Africa’s largest gold mine, is owned by Barrick in a joint venture with Johannesburg-headquartered AngloGold Ashanti and parastatal Société Miniére de Kilo-Moto (Sokimo).

Amid rising concerns about mining governance across sub-Saharan Africa – underlined by a new US advisory warning of ‘unique business risk’ – a contract awarding well-connected UAE company Primera Group the right to export and process much of Democratic Republic of Congo’s artisanal gold has attracted scrutiny and criticism within and well beyond DRC, writes Eleanor Gillespie.

The United Arab Emirates has often played a role in the illicit Congolese gold trade. A 2014 report by Partnership Africa Canada (Impact) noted that the number of individuals responsible for exporting illicit gold from Democratic Republic of Congo to Dubai was small.