Tag: Southern Africa

Why Every Western Automaker Is Visiting This Remote Part of South Africa
World

Why Every Western Automaker Is Visiting This Remote Part of South Africa

Updated Dec. 30, 2023 12:11 am ETListen to article(2 minutes)MBOMBELA, South Africa—A half-century-old company on the outskirts of South Africa’s Kruger National Park has found itself in a fortuitous spot as Western automakers push to move their electric-vehicle supply chains away from China.Manganese Metal Co., based in the sleepy town of Mbombela, is the largest of just a handful of refiners of battery-grade manganese located outside China. Used mostly for making steel, manganese is increasingly replacing more expensive and harder-to-source minerals such as cobalt and nickel in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars, smartphones and laptops.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Hapag-Lloyd to Continue Avoiding Red Sea Despite U.S.-Led Naval Deployment
World

Hapag-Lloyd to Continue Avoiding Red Sea Despite U.S.-Led Naval Deployment

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said it will continue to avoid the Red Sea because it considers the area is still too dangerous despite the U.S. and allies deploying naval ships to deter further strikes by Houthi militants.“We continuously assess the situation and plan a next review on Friday,” a spokesperson of the German shipping giant said Wednesday. It will continue to reroute its ships via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Platinum Miners Face Demand Downturn as EV Transition Revs Up
World

Platinum Miners Face Demand Downturn as EV Transition Revs Up

Miners of platinum metals are likely to face plummeting demand in the coming years, victim to the automotive industry’s transition to battery-electric vehicles.A decline in demand could happen as soon as 2025-26, Citi analysts say in a research note, forecasting “a structural demand downturn in a scale and speed hardly seen across the commodity markets.”Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
China Turns the Tables on Wall Street
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China Turns the Tables on Wall Street

Updated Dec. 13, 2023 12:53 am ETChina is upending how the international financial system handles debt crises in the developing world. Wall Street isn’t happy.Large bond fund managers cried foul last month when China blocked their deal to salvage investments in defaulted Zambian debt. The smackdown came just weeks after Chinese officials brokered a private debt restructuring with Sri Lanka, outmaneuvering Western governments that were trying to do the same.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Switzerland Charges Trafigura and a Former Top Executive With Bribery
Money

Switzerland Charges Trafigura and a Former Top Executive With Bribery

Updated Dec. 6, 2023 3:29 pm ETSwiss prosecutors charged a former top executive at Trafigura with facilitating payment of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to land the energy trader preferential treatment in African oil producer Angola.Mike Wainwright helped to funnel part of the payments to an Angolan official, Swiss prosecutors said in an indictment at the Federal Criminal Court on Wednesday. These included more than 4.3 million euros, equivalent to $4.6 million, to a bank account in Geneva between 2009 and 2011, and $604,000 in cash payments in Angola. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Switzerland Charges Trafigura and a Former Top Executive With Bribery
World

Switzerland Charges Trafigura and a Former Top Executive With Bribery

Updated Dec. 6, 2023 1:21 pm ETSwiss prosecutors charged a former top executive at Trafigura with facilitating payment of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to land the energy trader preferential treatment in African oil producer Angola.Mike Wainwright allegedly helped to funnel the payments to an Angolan official, including some of more than 4.3 million euros, equivalent to $4.6 million, to a bank account in Geneva between 2009 and 2011, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said when it announced the criminal charges on Wednesday. He also approved transactions that led to over $604,000 in cash payments in Angola, prosecutors said in an indictment at the Federal Criminal Court.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb...
Billions in U.S. Funding Hasn’t Convinced Developing World to Ditch Coal
World

Billions in U.S. Funding Hasn’t Convinced Developing World to Ditch Coal

Updated Dec. 3, 2023 12:04 am ETJOHANNESBURG—Wealthy nations are sending tens of billions of dollars to poorer ones for clean energy, the linchpin of a global strategy to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in the developing world.But two of the most ambitious efforts yet—in South Africa and Indonesia—are now at risk of unraveling, sowing doubts about the rich world’s ability to push developing countries away from coal and other fossil fuels.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Impala Platinum Says 11 People Died in Shaft Incident
World

Impala Platinum Says 11 People Died in Shaft Incident

Impala Platinum Holdings said 11 employees died in a shaft incident at its Rustenburg operations in South Africa, with 75 hospitalized, in the worst mining accident for a South African company in 14 years.The precious-metals mining company said Tuesday that the rescue operation is complete and all 86 employees are accounted for.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
MMG Plans to Buy Copper Mine in Africa for $1.88 Billion
World

MMG Plans to Buy Copper Mine in Africa for $1.88 Billion

Mining company MMG has agreed to buy a copper mine in Africa for an enterprise value of nearly $1.88 billion as part of an effort by the Chinese government-backed company to expand its portfolio.MMG, which is nearly 68%-owned by state-owned China Minmetals, plans to buy the Khoemacau mine in northwest Botswana in the emerging Kalahari Copper Belt, the Hong Kong-listed company said Tuesday.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
South Africa Holds Off New Zealand to Win the Rugby World Cup
World

South Africa Holds Off New Zealand to Win the Rugby World Cup

On any given day, whichever 15 men happen to be wearing the jersey of the New Zealand All Blacks can be the most fearsome outfit known to rugby. The problems begin when there are only 14 of them. New Zealand learned that lesson the hard way on Saturday inside the Stade de France, where the first ever red card in a Rugby World Cup final left the All Blacks a man short for nearly three-quarters of the match against South Africa, the No. 1 rugby union team in the world. The Springboks are a grueling enough machine to face when things go right. But when things go wrong against them from the opening minutes, you end up losing the World Cup.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8