The occasion was that of the African Conference on Mineral Resources in Cape Town, South Africa. There the World Bank announced a project of continental dimensions: the creation, starting in July, of a 1 billion dollar fund to map the mineral resources of all of Africa. According to the French newspaper Les Echos, there would already be interest from representatives of mining companies and sub-Saharan governments.
“There is a lot of interest because it is when prices are low and companies reduce their investment budgets that the information that guides their priorities becomes valuable,” Paulo de Sa, head of the oil, gas and mining unit, told Les Echos of the World Bank.
The project aims to collect the existing data on a publicly accessible digital platform. Valuable information also for governments who, when carrying out mining negotiations with multinationals, will know exactly what is in their territory.
