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President Macky Sall has inaugurated the new 120 MW Malicounda power plant on February 11th. The project is the result of a development agreement signed in 2017 between Africa50 and state utility Senelec to select a strategic sponsor to develop the facility under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer model (BOOT). Independent power producer (IPP) Melec Power Gen, part of the Lebanese Matelec Group, was eventually selected, making Malicounda its third power station in the country following the 67.5 MW Kounoune station commissioned in 2008 and the 115 MW Tobene station commissioned in 2016. Malicounda was developed a cost of €154m and has increased Senegal’s generation capacity by 8%. Its construction started a few years ago after the setting up of a €75m (FCFA 50bn) bridge loan with the Orabank Group and a few regional partners. The senior debt was ultimately provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB), acting as the mandated lead arranger, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). The power plant will initially consume diesel and HFO but has been designed to switch to natural gas as soon as gas becomes available from Senegal’s domestic offshore fields
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, and Xcalibur Multiphysics, the worldwide leader in airborne geophysics, have announced their intention to partner on mapping, developing and co-financing natural resource projects that will spur minerals and critical raw materials beneficiation in Africa. The partnership was announced at a signing ceremony today at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. AFC and Xcalibur, through their partnership, will prioritise projects to locate and identify AFC’s focus minerals, including precious, base and critical raw materials, comprising gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, copper, cobalt, graphite, lithium and rare earth elements. As a result, African countries will have access to improved geological data, which will de-risk investments in the sector, create local jobs, unlock mineral resource wealth and ultimately support a more just energy transition on the continent. Xcalibur will lead in providing the technical and mapping expertise, while AFC will lead in identifying and implementing investment and financing solutions for approved projects. Project development in seven priority countries is well advanced, extending soon to other African countries. AFC is one of the largest investors in Africa’s natural resources sector, leading transformational projects such as Nigeria’s Segilola Gold Mine, the country’s first private sector-led, commercial-scale gold project. In Sierra Leone, AFC partnered with the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources (MMMR) and the National Minerals Agency (NMA) on the launch of the results from a Nationwide Airborne Geophysical Survey (NAGS) to establish the full extent of the country’s wealth below ground and promote investment in its mining sector. The Corporation is also the lead investor in several precious and transition metal projects in the region, including the Karowe diamond mine in Botswana, the Kipushi copper and cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Franceville and Okondja manganese mining projects in Gabon and the Alufer Mining bauxite project in Guinea. These investments, amongst others, target in-country value-addition and beneficiation from Africa’s natural resources. The approach multiplies employment creation, increases export prices and government revenues, reduces trade costs and, importantly, minimises the carbon footprint associated with exporting raw materials and reimporting finished products. Sameh Shenouda, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, AFC “Africa has the largest reserves of the minerals and metals required for the global energy transition; the challenge is a lack of investment in mining, transportation, clean energy and processing. This is exactly what this partnership aims to address, and we look forward to working with Xcalibur to develop and finance critical projects that transform Africa’s resource wealth into economic fortune and spur economic diversification.” Xcalibur has a strong track record in executing large-scale, country-wide & regional mapping programmes and also high-resolution mapping programs, with an inventory of more than 50 million line kilometres of data acquired in Africa and worldwide. These programmes have demonstrably increased exploration activities in the host countries, leading to job creation and increased investment. Andrés Blanco, Chief Executive Officer, Xcalibur Multiphysics “Africa is exposed to climate change effects, and we believe that this alliance contributes to the green transition of the continent, combatting climate change, ensuring access to sustainable energy and protecting biodiversity and natural resources while allowing African countries and African companies to become just and relevant players on the energy transition map. We look forward to working with AFC to accelerate sustainable economic growth and build a more inclusive economy in Africa.”
