Tag: Investment

The Belarusian government has nationalised and is fast-tracking the two million t/a capacity Slavkaliy project.

Italy’s Saipem has won a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract from Sonatrach for an integrated phosphate fertilizer project in Algeria.

New ownership structure and plant expansion for Northern Nutrients following investment by Shell Trading Canada

OCP Group subsidiary OCP Nutricrops has announced a major investment to expand its phosphate fertilizer production capacity by nine million tonnes by 2028.

Indonesia has become the epicentre of the world nickel industry, and is now seeking to raise royalty rates to capture more value from this. Will this impact upon the continuing expansion of HPAL capacity there?

Verdant Minerals says it has been granted two key productive mineral leases for its Ammaroo Phosphate Project by the Northern Territory government. The company says that this significant milestone advances one of the world's largest undeveloped phosphate resources, located about 220km southeast of Tennant Creek. Acting Chief Minister and Minister for Mining and Energy, Gerard Maley, stated, “This is a significant milestone in progressing a world-class resource project that will support jobs, drive investment, and strengthen the NT’s position as a leader in resource development.”

The Philippine government is looking to follow Indonesia’s success in attracting downstream investment by banning the export of nickel ore. The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as early as June. The ban would come into force five years after approval to give miners time to build downstream processing plants. This development could potentially lead to higher nickel prices in the medium term if there is a delay to building domestic capacity and the Indonesian government becomes serious about restraining ore availability.

Metso has secured a two-year life-cycle contract with Ideal Development for Manufacturing Industries (IDMI) for a new phosphate beneficiation plant at the Eshidiya phosphate mine in the south of Jordan.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda has overseen the signing of signed an implementation agreement for the Uganda Refinery between the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and joint venture partner Alpha MBM Investments. Alpha MBM is a UAE-based company led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, a member of the Dubai Royal Family. The agreement paves way for the design, construction and operation of the 60,000 bbl/d refinery to be undertaken at Kabaale. Construction is expected to take three years, with UNOC and Alpha MBM Investments as the project partners. The refinery, which will be East Africa’s first major crude processing plant, aims to reduce Uganda’s dependency on imported petroleum products and is expected to meet the local and regional demand for petroleum products.

Astron Energy, a subsidiary of Glencore, says that it will spend $328 million to upgrade its South African crude oil refinery in order to comply with the country’s upcoming cleaner fuel regulations. The investment aims to bring the facility in line with South Africa’s Clean Fuels II standards, which mandate lower sulphur content in both petrol and diesel. The 100,000 bbl/d refinery near Cape Town is one of only two remaining operational refineries in the country. Astron says that construction work is already under way for a gasoline hydrotreating plant that will reduce sulphur levels to Euro 5 (<10ppm sulphur) specifications. The regulations have been delayed to July 2027 due to concerns over the cost of upgrading existing refining infrastructure. n