Business and Economic News from Malawi
| Japan has agreed to extend $40 million (about Sh53 billion) in development aid to Tanzania. In the first agreement Japan will provide almost Sh23 billion to help Tanzania improve the Masasi-Mangaka toad. The 55-kilometre road is part of the 800-kilometre road from Mtwara to Mbamba Bay. TO READ MORE CLICK HERE |
APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) Despite the current depressed mineral prices on the global market, Malawi is expecting that the uranium produced from its Kayelekera Mine in the north of the country would contribute more than MK12 billion (US$200 million) export earnings in 2010, according to Finance Minister Ken Kandodo in Lilongwe on Tuesday. TO READ MORE CLICK HERE |
Standard Bank Ltd. of Malawi said first-half profit jumped 103 percent on growth in loans.
Profit climbed to 1.330 billion Malawi kwacha ($9.5 million) in the six months through June, from 656 million kwacha a year earlier READ MORE
Paladin Energy Ltd ("Paladin" has just announced the first drawdown of US$84.5M under the Kayelekera Project Financing Loan (Facility).
The Kayelekera Uranium Mine is currently in its production ramp-up phase. The first drawdown will be reimbursed to Paladin Energy Ltd for funds spent on completing the project, with the remainder of the Facility to be applied to the Project and working capital expenditure. READ MORE
Maputo, Mozambique, 10 Aug – The management of Mozambique’s Northern Development Corridor (CDN) welcomes the possible shipment of coal from the Moatize mines through the deepwater port of Nacala but this option is not one of the venture’s priorities, the company’s CEO has said. READ MORE
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Malawi's headline inflation is likely to be 9 percent or lower in the coming 12 months due to more stable food prices, the finance minister said on Thursday. READ MORE
Tea as your grandparents would have drunk it is on its way to the UK for the first time in over a hundred years. Lost Malawi, a hand-crafted pure black tea, will be on the shelves at Waitrose in November, exported from the first African single-estate tea grower. Henrietta Lovell, a former corporate finance expert, runs the Rare Tea Company which imports the tea from Malawi. READ MORE
In its latest quarterly report, Paladin announces that commercial production is expected to be achieved during the September quarter with first production planned to be shipped out towards the end of the September 2009 quarter.
The mine was officially opened by the President of Malawi, His Excellency Dr Bingu waMuthariika on 17 April. Commissioning and optimisation of the uranium process circuits is ongoing and production ramp-up has commenced with the plant initially operating in an intermittent mode during this phase. It is anticipated that the plant achieve 60%-70% design capacity during the September quarter.
The report further states that final construction of the sulphuric acid plant is expected to be completed by late August with the remaining works now predominantly being the lagging and cladding of the completed acid process equipment, piping and vessels.
The construction workforce is being progressively demobilised with the intention of retaining several hundred Malawian workers for general landscaping and camp upgrade.
Detailed planning and scheduling of the earthworks for the lined decant pond and lift extension of the north wall of the tailing storage facility by the earthworks contractor has commenced with commissioning of the former planned in December 2009, prior to the next wet season.
The Malawi Government’s road building contractor has sealed the first 13km section of the M26 public road from the town of
access road is planned to start in the next quarter. Road access to site remains non-problematic.
Production
Albeit still very much in its commissioning and ramp-up phase, Kayelekera produced 34,600lb during the June quarter.
Mining
Open pit mining activities, operating on a single daily shift, continued to focus on pit development. Several benches are now developed and the ore body has been fully exposed across the width of the pit. A total of
223,200t of ore grading 1,195ppm U3O8 and 740,835t of waste were removed from the pit in this quarter with a total
of approximately 2.37Mt mined from the area since operations began in 2008. The mine is planned to go to a two
shift operation in July.
Process Plant
The Kayelekera processing plant is the first of its kind to be built outside
Exploration Activity
Resource extension drilling to the west of the Kayelekera open pit started in June. Currently 18 holes totalling 2,022m have been completed. Initial results indicate that the mineralisation continues to extend to the west. However, detailed studies of the completed drilling programme are needed to determine whether the mine life will be extended. Final results and a subsequent resource update are expected in the December quarter.
Malawi is finally getting serious about its mining. The government of Malawi sent a representative to attend the EITI introductory seminar which took place in Tanzania from the 15th-17th of June. The official from the Ministry of Finance commented that the meeting was very helpful and that Malawi needs to take a position on this initiative so that the country can benefit. The government of Malawi has been reluctant to show interest in the EITI due lack of awareness of the issue within government circles READ MORE
Malawi is among countries earmarked for a special International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue plan to help countries combat the world economic crisis. IMF resident representative Maitland Macfarlan said in Lilongwe on Wednesday Malawi would receive a special financing of US$80 million from the fund under the fund’s contingent allocation of Special Drawing rights (SDRs) to help the country reduce its foreign currency shortages. READ MORE |
Malawi’s yet to be connected third mobile phone company Global Advanced Integrated Networks (G-Mobile) has taken a step-forward in its roll-out plan following the signing on Tuesday of a US$90 million partnership with South Africa’s Beryl Capital and Telecoms for the supply, installation and commissioning of G-Mobile network in the country. read more |
One not widely recognised fact about ILLOVO, the South-Africa Sugar company, is that Malawi is vital to its well-being By country, contributions to operations profit were: South Africa 19%, Malawi 45%, Zambia 12%, Swaziland 9%, Tanzania 9% and Mozambique 6%. READ MORE
The mainstay of Malawi's economy is agriculture. Tobacco,the main cash crop, accounts for more than 70 per cent of exports, but has been experiencing a decline in prices in the last two years. The country now wants to diversify the products it sells abroad. READ MORE
Globe Metals & Mining (ASX: GBE) has commenced discussions with a number of Chinese parties regarding off-take arrangements for the sale of ferro-niobium (FeNb) from its Kanyika Niobium Project. in Mzimba. Globe’s Managing Director, Mark Sumich, has recently returned from a 10 day trip to China, which encompassed five cities, where he met with potential off-take partners.
Globe expects that in due course, off-take contracts will be entered into with Chinese steel mills, metal trading houses and/or Chinese mining groups. Globe has already entered into existing supply arrangements, representing 35% of Globe’s planned niobium production of 3,000tpa , which are due to commence in 2012,READ MORE
Corporate presentation (June 2009) View
Interesting photos VIEW
For the second year running, the agricultural sector got the biggest share in the K257 billion budget new Finance Minister Ken Kandodo presented in Parliament Friday.Read More
New Finance Minister Ken Kandodo Friday presented his K257 billion national budget, announcing new tax measures to boost local production and increase investment while reducing the burden on taxpayers by increasing the tax-free bracket for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) from K9 000 to K10 000.Read More
Malawi's economic growth is expected to slow to 7.9 percent in real terms in 2009, while inflation should average 9.7 percent, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo said on Friday.Read more
Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) says it has managed to collect it is expected to collect K117.3 billion during the 2008/09 fiscal year. Read More
The Malawi government is inviting expressions of
interest for the design and construction supervision of the planned Lilongwe University of Science and Technology. Read More
A new textile industry will create 1000 jobs in the strategically placed town of
According to the Reserve Bank of
The African Development Bank (ADB) Wednesday approved two loans in the amount of US$181 million to Mozambique and Malawi to finance construction of the first phase of the Nacala road Corridor, linking the two countries to Zambia.
This work is part of the ambitious rehabilitation and extension of the Malawi road network that includes the improvement of the Chipata-Lilongwe-Liwonde road Read More
