ZAMBIA: Tender - Civil Works for the Rehabilitation of the Great East Road (T4) in Zambia: General Procurement Notice

Status Forecast

Opportunity Type: Works

Project Summary - The contract(s) will cover civil works for the rehabilitation of 3 stretches of, in total, 244,82 km along the T4 trunk road between Luangwa bridge and Mwami border. The works will mainly consist in:

(i) recycling and stabilising with emulsion the existing asphalt surfacing (AC) and lower layer and place as base between Luangwa bridge and Nyimba;

(ii) recycling and stabilising with emulsion the existing surfacing and lower layer into a sub-base and overlay with 150 mm crushed stone base and surface with AC for the other sections.

Replacement or reconfiguration of bridges, culverts and drainage systems where appropriate are also included. Works are expected to commence in September 2012.
ZAMBIA: Tender - Supervision of Civil Works for the Rehabilitation of the Great East Road (T4) in Zambia: General Procurement Notice

Status Forecast

Opportunity Type: Services

Project Summary - tendered in 3 lots:

Luangwa bridge–Nyimba (98,93 km);

Sinda–Katete–Mtenguleni (95,5 km); and

Mtenguleni–Chipata–Mwami border (50,39 km).

The services are expected to commence in September 2012. The services will also include the monitoring of the implementation of cross-cutting accompanying measures by the works contractor(s).

Status Forecast

Opportunity Type: Services
EARLY WARNING & PROSPECTIVES
SADC
ANGOLA: Japan’s Marubeni Corp. to build sugar cane processing factory in Angola – Japan’s Marubeni Corporation has received an order from the Angolan government for construction of a factory to produce sugar and ethanol worth US$650 million, the Japanese group said in Tokyo. The factory will be built in Cunene province, southern Angola, and will have a production capacity of 400,000 tons of sugar and 40 million litres of ethanol.

Angola: Endiama Promotes 22 Projects At Mining Indaba ANGOP 9 February 2012 — At least 22 mining projects of the National Diamond Company of Angola (Endiama) have been displayed since Monday, in the International Fair of Mining "Mining Indaba", held in Cape Town, South Africa, with the aim of attracting potential investors. These are projects to exploit alluvial and kimberlitic diamonds.

DRC: Congo Gold Output to Surge After End of Africa’s Biggest War By Carli Lourens Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) Democratic Republic of Congo’s gold output is set to surge as record prices and the end of Africa’s biggest war prompted production to restart in some of the continent’s most remote regions after more than 50 years.

Commercial output in the central African nation could reach 1 million ounces annually in the next five years from close to zero, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Mwana Africa Plc said. Banro Corp., a Toronto-based gold producer, started the Twangiza mine last year, the first new gold operation in Congo since independence from Belgium in 1960. AngloGold, the world’s third- largest producer, and Randgold Resources Ltd. may start production next year from their first mine in the country.

“The age of commercial gold output is restarting,” Philippe de Pontet, director for Africa at New York-based research company Eurasia Group, said by e-mail Feb. 3. Congo was the world’s fifth-largest gold producer in the 1960s, according to Kilo Goldmines Ltd., exploring deposits in the northeast of the nation that’s the size of western Europe. The gold mines were mainly occupied by artisanal miners from the 1990s when a lack of investment saw the industry collapse. Invasion from eastern neighbors Uganda and Rwanda resulted in military groups seizing control of many of the operations around the same time. At least 3.1 million people died between 1998 and 2007 as a result of conflict, mainly due to easily preventable disease and starvation, according to the New York-based International Rescue Committee.

‘Most Remote Mines’

“Just based on current exploration activities it’ll be somewhere around about a million ounces over the next five years,” AngloGold’s Congo operations manager Brian Kennedy said by phone Feb. 3. Congo could become a significant gold producer in the next 20 or 30 years and “is probably the top geological address,” Kennedy said. South Africa produced 6.4 million ounces in 2009, according to the Department of Mineral Resources.

Randgold, based in Jersey, Channel Islands, last week completed site preparation for construction to start on Kibali, one of Africa’s largest mines, in the Orientale province in the northeast. Production is scheduled to start at the end of next year and could average 600,000 ounces a year. Randgold and AngloGold will each own 45 percent of the venture. “The biggest challenge is getting things in there,” such as equipment, Kalaa Mpinga, chief executive officer of London- based Mwana Africa, said by phone on Feb. 2. “These gold mines are probably going to be the most remote gold mines ever built in Africa.”

The nearest port is Mombasa, Kenya, more than 1,500 miles away through Uganda. Mpinga is looking to start a gold mine producing in about three years to eventually yield more than 100,000 ounces annually.

Risk-Appetite Boost

AngloGold, based in Johannesburg, is also evaluating Mongbwalu in the Ituri district in the northeast, the site of fighting between 1999 and 2003. Banro’s Twangiza could produce 120,000 ounces in its first full year of production. “Apart from Banro, the ramp-up process could be fairly slow, whether due to infrastructure constraints” or security concern, De Pontet said.

Gold’s advance over the past decade has made taking on projects in higher-risk countries worthwhile. The metal gained for each of the past 11 years, climbing to a record $1,921.15 an ounce last year. Bullion traded at $1,746.72 as of 2:51 p.m. in London. “A big part of it is the economics of gold,” Mpinga said. “With the price of gold where it’s sitting today, it’s attractive.”

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to find a number of other world-class deposits here,” Randgold CEO Mark Bristow said at the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town. “Northeastern Congo is the next big gold field for Africa. Congo has a reputation as a wild place, but our experience has been as good as anywhere in Africa.”

Nippon Steel has been exploring for coal in Revobue, near the mining concessions granted to Vale of Brazil and Riversdale of Australia (which has now been taken over by Rio Tinto). Now it needs to replace the exploration licence with a licence for a mining concession. Nippon Steel hopes to begin effective mining by 2014. The list of infrastructures that Japan wants to rehabilitate includes the northern port of Nacala and the road links from Tete to Nacala.

As for natural gas, Matsushita said Japan "sees that Mozambique has great potential in this area, and we are going to negotiate so that in future we can implement projects. There are many Japanese companies that have shown an interest in natural gas". One Japanese company, Mitsui, is already involved in natural gas exploration in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Mitsui has a 20 per cent stake in the concession of the Rovuma Basin Area 1, where the operator is the US company Anadarko.

Mozambique: ENRC Planning New Railway for Coal Exports AIM 9 February 2012 — The Kazakhstan-based company, the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) is planning to build a railway from the western Mozambican province of Tete to the northern port of Nacala, according to its general manager, Paul Craven. This is the second proposed railway from Tete to Nacala. The Brazilian mining company Vale is well advanced with plans for a railway which will run from its open cast mine in Moatize through southern Malawi to link up with the existing Malawi-Nacala line.

Craven says that the ENRC railway will avoid Malawi, and will run entirely through Mozambican territory. He claimed that this would be both shorter and cheaper than the Vale route. The Vale railway has an estimated cost of four billion US dollars. He expected the railway to be completed by 2015. But before this can happen, a detailed route must be worked out, and the required social and environmental impact studies must be held.

Nacala is an attractive option, since it is generally regarded as the best deep water harbour on the east African coast. Unlike Beira, Nacala does not require dredging. But to reach Nacala from Tete, new railways are needed. Craven said the ENRC would have port facilities at Nacala adjacent to Vale's. He expected them initially to have a capacity for 40 million tonnes of coal a year, rising to 60 million tonnes, and with a possibility for expansion to 100 million tonnes at a later stage.

ENRC has so far not mined any coal at all in Tete. It has 12 exploration licenses in the province, and is currently working on one at Estima. The Estima project is expected to produce 20 million tonnes of coal a year by 2015-16. By 2020, ENRC expects production to rise to between 30 and 40 million tonnes a year. ENRC was founded in Kazakhstan, and although it has expanded across the globe, and is quoted on the London stock exchange, its main assets remain located in Kazakhstan.

As well as this, the Essar group, via its subsidiary Essor Ports, intends to build a slurry pipeline linking the future port in Mozambique to Zimbabwe to carry iron ore and pellets needed to operate the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company. Rajiv Agarwal, chief executive of Essar Ports, told the programme that the company was in talks with the Mozambican government and added that he hoped a a definitive agreement would be reached in the next six months. He also said that the future port would not be for the exclusive use of the Essar group and would be open to other companies mining coal and iron ore in Mozambique. (source: macauhub) THE ‘90’S JCI SAVANNAH PJT OFF BEIRA?

GOVERNMENT has bargained with Areva to realise its dreams of nuclear energy: tax incentives for the French state-owned giant's Trekkopje project in exchange for a feasibility study on generating nuclear power in Namibia, informed sources have told The Namibian.

THE Lüderitz Town Council has endorsed an exemption for a N$1,26 million tender to rehabilitate roads, a move that appears to have irked some residents at the coastal town. The council is alleged to have bypassed Tender Board recommendations that the tender be given to another company because the company that was recommended to be given the tender through exemption had inside information about the tender amount. At the council meeting on January 31 this year Lüderitz Town Council endorsed that the tender be given to Strydo Construction at N$1,26 million dollars. The company had allegedly tendered for N$1 159 574. Although it was the lowest tender received, the Tender Board had allegedly recommended that the tender be awarded to the second lowest bidder, Buchter Bricks and Blocks, whose bid was N$1, 43 million.

Strydo Construction is alleged to have received about N$84 million worth of tenders from the Lüderitz Town Council over the last ten years.

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa plans big infrastructure campaign RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH Feb 9, By DONNA BRYSON Associated Press -- South Africa's president announced ambitious infrastructure projects Thursday, laying out his plans for creating jobs and hope in nation harder hit than most in Africa by global recession. "The massive investment in infrastructure must leave more than just power stations, rail lines, dams and roads," Zuma said in his nationally televised state of the nation address to parliament in Cape Town. "It must industrialize the country, generate skills and boost much needed job creation." His plan spanned the country, from a dam in the southwestern homeland of former President Nelson Mandela to a rail and road network and new water systems to boost prospects for mining in Limpopo, a province in the far northeast that is among the nation's poorest and often pointed to as among the most corrupt.

The five geographically focused projects listed included:

• A plan to develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around the Waterberg and Steelpoort areas of Limpopo, to unlock coal, platinum, palladium, chrome and other minerals, as well as the stepped-up beneficiation of minerals.

• Improving the movement of goods through the Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor by prioritising a range of rail and port improvements, supported significantly by a R300-billion investment programme by Transnet over the coming seven years.

• A new ‘South Eastern node’, in the Eastern Cape, to bolster that province’s industrial and agricultural development and export capacity. Initiatives within the node would include logistics linkages with the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the construction of a dam on the Umzimvubu river to support farming and the Mthatha revitalisation project. It would also embrace a new 16-million-ton-a-year manganese export channel through the Port of Ngqura.

• An initiative to expand the roll-out of water, roads, rail and electricity infrastructure in the North West, including the upgrade of ten priority roads.

• A range of projects on the West Coast, including the expansion of the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore corridor to above 80-million tons.

SOUTH AFRICA: Ivanplats to shake up South Africa's platinum sector – Friedland Robert Friedland reckons the 2010 discovery of the high-grade Flatreef ore body by Ivanplats at its Platreef complex in South Africa will position the company as the lowest cost producer of platinum in the world. Privately owned Ivanplats, whose other major projects include the Kamoa copper and Kipushi zinc operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said it would be the lowest cost producer of platinum in the world at Platreef, thanks to the discovery of the high-grade Flatreef ore body in 2010. Friedland said Ivanplats intended to build a fully-integrated processing facility and a series of underground shafts and to mine on a bulk scale, in a highly mechanized process.

SOUTH AFRICA: Civil construction braces for tough year despite early signs of a cyclical bottom ENG NEWS By: Irma Venter 10th February 2012 - The local civil construction industry is in for another tough year. Even though there is anecdotal evidence that the current downward cycle has bottomed, expectations are that the market may continue its decline in 2012, albeit at a slower pace than has been the case since the start of the downturn in 2008.

As it stands, employment in the industry has already contracted by 39% to 106 330 people in the third quarter of 2011, down from a peak of more than 190 000 people in 2008. Turnover in the industry has declined from R58-billion in 2008 to R32-billion in 2010, contracting by 44%, or R26-billion.

“We expect that the South African construction economy is going to remain depressed for the foreseeable future and do not expect construction activity to move into a more buoyant space any time soon,” says Murray & Roberts group CE Henry Laas. “At the moment, there are no large contracts in the civil and roads sectors on tender and the market is very competitive. The delay in public–private partnerships (PPPs), building and road infrastructure projects has pushed out the recovery of the industry. This market will take some time to recover.”

Group Five CEO Mike Upton’s prognosis is equally negative for 2012. “This year will not be worse than 2011, but neither will there be any substantial improvement. We are hopeful that things will turn in 2013, but, then, we have been saying that for some time now.”

Cross-border, into Africa, things look much better, says Upton, especially in the mining industry. However, the Middle East, long a mainstay for many South African construction companies, is “also going into a quiet period – it is also very competitive”.

Basil Read COO Chris Erasmus is also positive about growth opportunities outside South Africa. He also believes 2012 should deliver better local results than those of 2011.

Many construction firms have indeed noted their intent to increasingly shop abroad for work. For example, Aveng reported in November last year that the value of its two-year order book had increased by 18% to R43.5-billion between the end of June, when it stood at R37-billion, and the end of September. However, the JSE-listed company then also indicated that 73% of this order book was linked to projects outside its home market, with 85% of the order book attributable to private-sector projects.

For WBHO, the 2011 financial year was the first year in the 41-year history of the construction group that the bulk of the company’s revenue – 52% – was generated outside South Africa, and, to be specific, in Australia and the rest of Africa.

However, despite the fact that construction activity recorded its biggest improvement in 18 months, work remained scarce. As a result, tendering competition was fierce and profitability still subdued. “Tendering competition remained cut-throat due to the scarcity of work,” says FNB chief economist Cees Bruggemans. EDITS

South Africa: Make-Over for Tshwane Municipal Headquarters BuaNews (Tshwane) By Clement Moaga, 8 February 2012 Pretoria — Before the end of the month, the ageing structure housing the City of Tshwane municipal headquarters will be cleared to pave way for the construction of a new state-of-the art building. Briefing the media about the relocation process, City Manager Jason Ngobeni said the new structure, which will also be a communal meeting place for Tshwane residents, will cost about R2 billion. Ngobeni said the building process will be handled by Tsela Tshweu consortium, which includes Group Five, Standard Bank, Nedbank and other 20 small Black Economic Empowerment companies.

SOUTH AFRICA: The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) says it will launch a local supplier market survey to determine the capacity of local industry to meet the 65% localisation target qualifying bidders have to adhere to in the agency’s R136-billion programme to acquire new rolling stock.

Interested parties will be able to access the local market supplier survey from Sunday, February 12, on the Prasa website, www.prasa.com. The deadline for input is March 31. The local content document will be available on Wednesday, February 15, with responses from rolling stock manufacturers required by Friday, March 9, to allow for comments and responses to be incorporated into the RFP process.

“Dulux’s business in Africa is growing strongly and has significant potential for further sustainable growth in the years ahead. One of the most significant stumbling blocks is to get African operations up to the same standards in South Africa.” He notes that the lack of infrastructure cannot always be blamed for difficult working conditions in Africa. “It is our responsibility, as marketers, to work within [the parameters of] these countries’ challenges. You have to look at a country and acknowledge its economic reality as well as infrastructural realities, and design your distribution to match the country profile. We predominantly try to do this along with partners in those countries. You cannot disregard local expertise. We aim to contribute through training, setting up processes and providing good skills.

Dulux also has manufacturing facilities in Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, with a licensing partner in Zimbabwe. “Our vision is for countries not to rely on imported products, but rather to create self-sufficient manufacturing facilities, while creating jobs and stimulating the gross domestic product.” The company has converted a distribution partner in Accra, Ghana, into a licensing partner, enabling it to set up a manufacturing facility. The conversion started in the last quarter of 2011, while commissioning of the factory took place at the end of the year. “We are extremely excited about the growth prospects Africa holds,” he concluded.

South Africa: Norilsk Eyes South African Platinum - Platinum's investment potential could exceed that of gold, Russia's Norilsk Nickel told the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday. According to reports, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium is looking at platinum mine acquisitions in South Africa. Norilsk Nickel is the joint owner - with South Africa's African Rainbow Minerals - of a 50% stake in the Nkomati Nickel Mine in Mpumalanga province. Norilsk said it regarded Nkomati as being "of great importance as a major investment project in South Africa", adding that its total investments in the project already exceeded US$200-million. Norilsk also owns 85% of the Tati Nickel project in neighbouring Botswana. Panov told Reuters that the company veiwed Botswana as well as Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia as "potential regions for further development" in Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA: SA-Swiss venture to build R1.6bn pharmaceuticals plant South Africa will set up a R1.6-billion plant to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (AIPs) for antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) in a joint venture with Swiss group Lonza, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor announced on Friday. Construction is expected to start in early 2013.

SOUTH AFRICA: Air Liquide to build R400m SA plant after securing Evraz Highveld deal ENG NEWS By: Terence Creamer 6th February 2012 = Industrial gases group Air Liquide reported on Monday that it would invest some R400-million in a new 770 t/d air separation unit (ASU) in South Africa after concluding a 20-year oxygen supply contract with JSE-listed steel and vanadium producer Evraz Highveld.

Construction of the new ASU, which would be located alongside the steel mill, would start once the environmental authorisation had been secured and it was expected to be commissioned by the end of 2013. The new ASU, which would be designed by Air Liquide engineering and construction teams, would also produce liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon to meet growing demand from South Africa’s industrial merchant market.

Etablishment of Rural Roads Agency is the best approach to redress the situation," he said. In support of the suggestion by the Zitto, the MP Dr Binilith Mahenge (Makete-CCM) said the government should take seriously the need to improve the infrastructure in rural areas in order to speed up development.

"The country has long been a significant producer of gold and diamonds. However, in the coming years, we expect coal, nickel and uranium production to become key sub-sectors of Tanzanian mining output. Several anticipated mining projects will transform the country's mining sector and reduce Tanzania's dependence on gold as an export earner," says the report. Tanzania is home to some of the largest untapped high-grade nickel deposits in the world, most of which is of relatively high grade and cash cost, the BMI report adds.

While other countries, such as Ghana, Peru and South Africa, are also seeking to raise taxes on mining companies, Tanzania is going significantly further with plans to introduce an Australia-style of 35 per cent tax on mining companies' profits and raising royalties.

"Because of more expected investments in coal projects in the southern highlands of the country gold and nickel projects in south west as well as copper projects in the west, the mining sector is set to grow in the next few years. But emphasis will be on oil and gas because it is more attractive," said Mr Kabwe, who is a Chadema MP for the Kigoma North constituency. In coal mining investors have started trooping in. A Chinese firm, Sichuan Hongda is set to invest $3bn in the country to build a coal mine at Mchuchuma and an iron ore mine and thermal power station in Liganga. Mchuchuma has some 536mn tonnes of coal reserves, while Liganga has total reserves of up to 1,200mn tonnes, including iron, vanadium and titanium.

The project which is being constructed at Las Mjimwema, Kigamboni, will have a discharging capacity of around 3,500 litres per hour hence cutting down the mooring time to one day from the current period of between four and five days. The Port Manager said Malaysia based firm Leighton Offshore has been awarded the contract of installing two onshore and offshore pipelines. The latter is almost ready. The pipelines are one 28 inches for crude and the other 24 inches for white oil-petrol, diesel and kerosene, covering 3.6 kilometres offshore and 4.3 kilometres onshore. Leighton Offshore's scope of work includes engineering and procurement, project management, pre and post installation surveys, supply and installation of the SPM system, as well as testing and commissioning.

Dr Mulenga said the Government had engaged a consultant that would undertake technical feasibility study, designs and construction of schemes and dams.

"With effect from November 11, 2011 and financing credit is now put into effect and the World Bank is ready to disburse the funds of US$115 million after all the surveys are completed," he said. Dr Mulenga explained that the Government was expected to contribute US$75 million to support the irrigation project especially for the resettlement programme.

Zambia: Ichimpe Mine Starts Formalisation Process - MINES and Natural Resources Minister Wylbur Simuusa has said Zhonghui Mining Group of China, owners of the US$690 million Ichimpe Mine in Kalulushi has started formalising the development of the project.

Zimbabwe: EMA Gives Chinese Investor Ultimatum THE HERALD 10 February 2012 - The Chinese investor constructing the five-star hotel on the wetlands between Belvedere suburb and the National Sports Stadium is defying orders to halt operations and regularise the development, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment and Natural Resources heard on Wednesday. Environmental Management Agency director Mr Aaron Chigona said they had written twice to the Chinese investor to stop construction.

"We ordered them to stop construction and carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)," he said. "First to issue the order was our inspector and they did not comply," he said. "Next to issue the same order was the EMA director-general and they are yet to comply again," he added. "If they do not comply within the next two weeks when the window period lapses, the minister will then issue the final notice or simply ban the hotel construction," he said. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority brought the Chinese investor, who is constructing a 300-roomed hotel on a wetland in contravention of the Environmental Management Act, which bars land development on such lands. Mr Chagona said the investor had ignored the approved hotel plan and moved about 200 metres into the wetlands. NOT THE FIRST SOURING OF BOB’S ‘LOOK EAST’ STRATERGY

A memorandum of understanding was signed during talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this month, South Sudan's Minister for Information Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the AFP news agency. Chinese, US and European companies have shown interest in carrying out feasibility studies, Mr Benjamin said.

Last month, South Sudan's government signed a deal with Kenya to link its oil fields to the port of Lamu. Industry analysts say such a pipeline would usually take at least three years to build and cost up to $4bn (£2.6bn).

South Sudan and Sudan - who fought a bitter civil war for decades and split in July - remain at loggerheads, especially over oil on which both countries depend almost entirely for their revenues. The south has the bulk of the oil - but the north has the pipeline, refinery and the export terminal at Port Sudan on the Red Sea. They have never agreed on the transit fees that the south should pay Khartoum for pumping oil through its pipelines and using Sudan's oil export infrastructure. President Salva Kiir of South Sudan recently accused Sudan of stealing crude oil worth $815m (£518m). Khartoum has admitted to confiscating some for unpaid fees - prompting South Sudan to halt all production. President Kiir said his nation would rather struggle for a bit than continue to hand over its oil revenues to the old enemies in Khartoum. Fresh talks over the oil crisis are scheduled for Friday in Addis Ababa.