Dans Global Construction Review
An unprecedented $245m is set to be spent on the airports of Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world. The funding is to be arranged by the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a public–private development organisation, and will be spent on the upgrade and expansion of airports in the capital of Antananarivo, in the centre of the country, and the island of Nosy Be in the north. The bulk of the money will come from the World Bank, the Proparco Development Bank of South Africa, and the OPEC Fund for International Development.Passenger handling capacity will more than double at Ivato Airport, which serves Antananarivo. Its runway will be reinforced and resurfaced to allow it to handle wide-bodied aircraft and a 17,500 sq m international terminal will be built with an initial capacity of 1.5 million passengers. The second scheme will increase the capacity of Fascene Airport at Nosy Be, one of the country’s main tourism destinations, to 500,000 passengers a year. (..) Madagascar has a nominal per capita GDP of about $390 in 2016, making it the fifth poorest country in the world. According to the African Business Review, the project is expected to contribute $71.5 million in taxes to the Madagascan government.
Dans Mongabay
He wants to stop a foreign-owned company, Tantalum Rare Earth Malagasy (TREM), from mining his land for rare earth elements. “Our ancestors survived here by living off of the land,” Solondraza said. (..) Befitina is part of TREM’s 115-square mile (300-square kilometer) concession on the Ampasindava peninsula, a highly biodiverse area jutting out into the Mozambique Channel, several hundred miles east of the coast of mainland Africa. Ampasindava is home to a number of threatened lemur species that could be further imperiled if the mining project goes forward, scientists warn. The peninsula is also just across the water from the island of Nosy Be, Madagascar’s main tourist destination, where business owners worry that mining pollution could turn visitors away. Rare earth mining can have severe environmental and health impacts, research from China shows. TREM’s explorations show Ampasindava to be rich in the valuable rare earth elements needed in electric motors, computer parts, cell phones, and many other modern devices. The company managing the project has touted the “exceptionally promising” findings in Ampasindava, and the concession has twice been appraised at over $1 billion. (..) In early 2015, two high-level government officials were flown into Ampasindava on a TREM-chartered helicopter, according to several people affiliated with Missouri Botanical Garden in Madagascar, which manages the protected area. A few months later, in July 2015, Madagascar’s government decided that the Ambongomirahavavy mountain area, which is the source of 80 percent of the peninsula’s water and had been slated for inclusion in the protected area, would remain part of TREM’s concession. “The government’s position was clear — they were pro-mining,” a Malagasy botanist involved with the negotiations told Mongabay. “Their interest in the environment was zero.”
Dans Mining Review Africa
Graphmada mine in Madagascar an ideal platform for Bass Metals. ASX-listed graphite producer Bass Metals is looking to establish itself as mid-tier producer of industrial mineral concentrates within the next few years. This strategy of Bass Metals entails increasing production volumes at its Graphmada operation in east Madagascar to 6 000 tpa, thereafter tripling production to 20 000 tpa by 2019. The advancement of its Millie’s Reward lithium project, also in Madagascar, will undeniably secure the company’s ambitions, CEO Tim McManus tells Laura Cornish. (..) When Bass Metals announced that it had successfully renegotiated with Stratmin to significantly decrease the acquisition value from A$15.25 million to $5.39 million in January this year... it will ensure the mine is capable of delivering 6 000 tpa of graphite at a higher quality (>75% recovery and >94% fixed carbon) than was produced in previous years. The mine, which delivered 1 500 t of graphite for Stratmin in 2015 and 2016, has now ceased operations in order to accommodate the work required for the optimisation project. The company is however still generating some revenue from sales stock. (..) While the majority of graphite produced from Graphmada has been mined from the 5.7 Mt Loharano deposit, Bass Metals is looking to mine the adjacent Mahefedok deposit which has the potential to see the company increase production to 20 000 tpa of graphite by 2019. A 2 300 m drilling programme at Mahefedok has just been completed, uncovering significant intercepts of soft, easily mineable saprolite mineralisation along the entire 2.8 km strike length.
Dans Ecofin Agency
Nearly 1,500 farmers could lose lands they have been occupying for close to 50 years in Soavinandriana Itasy, in the Central part of Madagascar. Indeed the farmers, were ordered by the court to quit their properties which span over an area of 569ha that a former minister claims his. “Before 1970, these lands belonged to colonists but locals started occupying and using them progressively.
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