Canada Invests in 15 African Mining and Oil Projects

Natural Resources Canada director-general Denis Legace says in a report that Canadian companies are set to pour some C$46-billion inot new mining projects and more than C$90-billion into the oil and gas sector on the continent by 2010.

Legace said the majority of the 53 countries in Africa have significant mineral potential, with huge resources of platinum, gold, chromium, uranium, cobalt, copper, coal, manganese, phosphate, titanium and nickel, besides other minerals.

Currently, some 33 Canadian companies have an estimated C$7-billion to C$8-billion worth of mining assets in Africa, mostly in South Africa. The existing investment value is expected to increase more than twofold to about C$20-billion, in 2010, over and above the estimated C$46-billion worth of new investment.

More than 100 Canadian companies have ongoing exploration operations worth US$278-million in 37 African countries. This represents 24% of all exploration expenditure in Africa, the highest foreign investment in that sector anywhere in the world.

“Important discoveries [of various mineral deposits] have been made in Tanzania, Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Eritrea, Kenya, Niger, and so on,” says Legace.

He adds that C$13-billion worth of new investment is being planned for the next four to five years in 15 African countries, including Madagascar, Tanzania, South Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Zambia and Botswana.