TANZANIA
BP plans return to exploration
BP had expressed interest in coming to explore Tanzania again after a hiatus of more than half a century, Tanzania, which plans to auction nine oil and gas blocks in the fourth quarter, said on Friday. “British Petroleum wants to return as one of the majors in the upstream market,” Wellington Hudson, a senior principal petroleum geologist at the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development, said. “They have expressed interest. We expect them to visit the country in a couple of weeks.” – Bloomberg
NIGER
Uranium mine strike on hold
Areva’s Cominak uranium mine in northern Niger returned to work at the weekend after a 48-hour strike but unions warned they would take further action after today if the company did not boost bonus pay. Mining unions said they had called their stoppage because Cominak paid workers too low a bonus after under-declaring profits for last year. “This was a warning strike. Cominak’s management has until Monday to make a satisfactory offer, otherwise we will hold another strike,” said Inoua Neino, the general secretary of the National Union of Mine Workers of Niger. – Reuters
IVORY COAST
Aussie firm to build gold mine
Australia’s Perseus Mining expected to start building the $160 million (R1.4 billion) Sissingue gold mine in Ivory Coast in the middle of this year despite the recent slide in gold prices to a two-year low, its chief executive, Jeff Quartermaine, said on Friday. Quartermaine said while the company was not immune to the falling gold price it would need to fall much further to start causing Perseus any difficulty. – Reuters
EGYPT
IMF still keen to do loan deal
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the weekend declared the IMF “would not give up, would not leave the table” until it had struck a loan deal with Egypt. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde declined to say when a deal could be struck but said she had met with Egyptian officials on the sidelines of weekend IMF meetings in Washington. There have been repeated delays in granting a proposed $4.8 billion (R44.3bn) loan due to political turmoil. – Reuters