Operations, deal-making, policy and markets across African mining — every story, newest first.
Mali's industrial gold production fell 22.9% in 2025, provisional government figures show, as the prolonged suspension of Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto complex outweighed a $1.2bn windfall from a mining-arrears audit.
Chinese buyers imported a record 12.5-million tonnes of South African chrome ore across 2025, up 23.8% year on year, as South Africa's total chrome ore exports rose 15.7% to 23.77-million tonnes.
Caledonia Mining plans to spend $132m in 2026 to begin developing its Bilboes gold project, part of a $162.5m capex budget, after Zimbabwe reversed plans to double the gold royalty.
Ghana's state aluminium vehicle GIADEC has signed a $60m facility with Metalloid Investment and GIBDLC to fund mining at Nyinahin, part of the country's push to develop its 920-million-tonne bauxite reserves.
The DRC dispatched its first copper shipment to the US under a Gécamines-Mercuria arrangement, marketing metal from the state miner's stake in CMOC's Tenke Fungurume operation.
Lucara Diamond has filed an updated feasibility study for its Karowe underground project in Botswana, outlining $779 million in development capital and roughly ten years of additional mine life.
Ivanhoe Mines began copper anode production at its new Kamoa-Kakula smelter in the DRC, a plant it says will be Africa's largest once fully ramped up.
The final phase of G7 sanctions on Russian diamonds took effect on 1 January 2026, requiring a due diligence statement of origin for polished stones entering G7 markets.
Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and the DRC have signed a declaration to extend the Nacala railway corridor by about 2,400km, linking Chipata in Zambia to the DRC and onward to the Port of Nacala.
Kodal Minerals received a $21.3m payment from Hainan Mining in December 2025 after Bougouni's maiden 28,950-tonne spodumene shipment departed Cote d'Ivoire's San Pedro port for China on 30 November 2025.
Legal analysis of South Africa's draft mining law amendments found the bill's ministerial consent requirement for changes of control was so broadly worded it could apply to routine JSE share trades.
The US International Development Finance Corporation signed a $553m loan on 17 December 2025 as part of a $753m package, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa, to rehabilitate Angola's Benguela railway and Lobito port for Copperbelt exports.
Tax revenue from Namibia's uranium and gold mines rose to N$2.87bn in the past financial year, almost double the original budget, as diamond earnings weakened and uranium production climbed 22% year on year.
Glencore unveiled a $14bn-$24bn global copper growth plan that includes higher output targets for its Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda operations in the DRC.
Predictive Discovery chose a revised Robex Resources merger over a rival Perseus Mining bid in December 2025, combining Guinea's neighbouring Bankan and Kiniero gold projects in an A$2.35bn deal completed in April 2026.
Teck Resources and Anglo American shareholders voted decisively on 9 December 2025 to approve their all-share merger of equals, leaving only foreign regulatory clearances before Anglo Teck can be created.
Ivanhoe Mines said 2026 copper output at Kamoa-Kakula would fall short of 2024's record, even as dewatering of the flooded Kakula mine passed the halfway mark.
Barrick completed the sale of its Tongon gold mine and nearby exploration assets in Cote d'Ivoire to the Atlantic Group for up to $305m on 2 December 2025, transferring the mine to full Ivorian ownership for the first time since 2010.
An investigation into the 2022 Jagersfontein tailings dam collapse found the owner may have known of structural weaknesses since 2019 yet kept raising the wall and depositing more waste.
The Simandou project in Guinea shipped its first iron ore cargo in December 2025, opening one of the world's largest untapped iron ore deposits after more than 20 years of delays.
FG Gold, the Africa Finance Corporation and Afreximbank achieved financial close on a $330m senior debt package for the Baomahun gold project on 1 December 2025, paving the way for Sierra Leone's first large-scale commercial gold mine.
Ivanhoe Mines officially fired up what it calls Africa's largest and greenest copper smelter at Kamoa-Kakula, with first concentrate feed expected by the end of the year.
Barrick Mining reached a settlement with Mali in November 2025, paying roughly $430m to end an arbitration dispute and regain operational control of the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, which it lost earlier in the standoff.
Mozambique expects coal production to exceed 22 million tonnes in 2026, up 15% on 2025, as Vulcan's Moatize operation and other Tete province mines increase output despite softer global prices.
