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Australian junior Globe says it is advancing its project to site a niobium refinery in the Malawian capital and has outlined an ambitious plan to power mining and refining operations with renewable energy.

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.

Ore feed has resumed at the Langer Heinrich uranium plant, with commercial production expected in near term after operator ASX-listed Paladin Energy raised $150m of new debt.

Lotus’ plan to resume uranium mining at the Kayelekera resource reflects surging spot prices and would provide a much-needed source of income and employment for Malawi, but the restart depends on new power deals with utility state Escom, as well as new finance and offtake agreements.

LSE-listed Aterian is taking a controlling stake in Atlantis Metals, which holds exploration licences in Botswana’s highly prospective Kalahari Copperbelt and Makgadikgadi regions.

It is unlikely electric cars will come to dominate African roads for decades, but in the likes of Kenya and Benin battery-powered buses, motorbikes and industrial vehicles could have a radical impact on urban environments and commercial operations. Investors are lining up to support e-mobility projects in the most attractive markets, but in many jurisdictions the lack of capital, infrastructure and policy support and the high cost of vehicles are holding back what could be a revolution, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Jon Marks.

Miners have intensified uranium extraction and prospecting in Africa over the past two years as market prices surged after a decade of post-Fukushima lows.

Renewed momentum for nuclear energy was underlined by a COP28 climate summit pledge to triple global capacity by 2050 – although huge capital costs pose daunting obstacles to the several African countries who are looking at potential atomic power developments. A new generation of small reactors, while not yet commercially viable, may offer a solution for some to add significant capacity, writes Marc Howard.

The announcement that a unit of United Arab Emirates national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s International Holding Company was winning bidder for a stake in loss-making Mopani Copper Mines points to the emergence of ‘middle powers’ in strategic African resources plays and a hoped-for revival in Zambia’s mining ambitions.

State-owned utility Zesco is looking for a new renewable energy contractor, having put on hold a 2.4GW solar PV development with China’s CiEG. Work on other projects is continuing, but this is a difficult period for Zambia, which has still to implement its multilateral debt deal amid a lack of foreign currency and financing, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka.

Angola's President João Lourenço travelled to Washington on 30 November to meet his American counterpart Joe Biden, in a meeting described by the White House as advancing the development of the 1,290km Lobito Corridor rail project.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed MMG is to acquire Khoemacau Copper Mining Company for $1.9bn. Khoemacau’s mine in the Kalahari Copper Belt has production capacity of 60,000 t/yr of copper and 1.6m oz/yr of silver metal.

State power utility Zesco Ltd has signed a ten-year power supply agreement (PSA) with Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FQM), in a move expected to ringfence the future of one of Zambia’s most important mining assets.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)- and London AIM-listed Mkango Resources is planning three solar PV plants at its Songwe Hill mine. The $311m rare earths project has an estimated 18-year life-of-mine.

Australian junior AVZ is fighting on several fronts to keep its Manono lithium project on track. Development has been delayed by disputes with AVZ’s own shareholders and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government. The Perth-headquartered junior has, however, received an ICC emergency ruling in its favour, writes François Misser.