Ghana cancels $1.2 billion bauxite deal, eyes global partnership, sources say
Potential partners include Dubai-based Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) or a Chinese firm, two of the sources said.
The termination marks a strategic pivot by Ghana, which holds an estimated 900 million metric tons of bauxite, the seventh largest globally, but has struggled to attract sustained investment in mining and refining infrastructure.
Rocksure's lease covered the Nyinahin Hills in central Ghana, home to about 376 million tons of bauxite, the feedstock for aluminium.
It was the basis for a joint venture between Rocksure and the state-owned Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to build a mine and alumina refinery, with Rocksure holding 70% of the Asante Bauxite Company JV. GIADEC and the government owned 20% and 10%, respectively.
The lease was never ratified by parliament, rendering it void under a 2019 Supreme Court ruling.
"By the Exton Cubic ruling, without ratification, you have no lease," one of the sources said, adding that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had informed Rocksure.
GIADEC declined to comment, citing ongoing negotiations. The lands ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Rocksure also declined to comment.
Another of the sources said the firm had not been formally notified of the termination, only that GIADEC was exiting the JV.
Ghana, Africa's top gold producer, lags in bauxite production behind regional peers like Guinea, a global bauxite giant.
GIADEC is now actively courting new investors, including EGA and several Chinese firms, the GIADEC source said.
EGA, which lost its mining license in Guinea over delays in building a refinery, signed a memorandum of understanding with GIADEC in June to explore opportunities in Ghana.
'EGA has expressed interest in jointly developing bauxite opportunities in Ghana and is currently assessing the technical and commercial parameters of such collaboration,' the company told Reuters in an email response to queries.
EGA said no binding agreement had been signed, and did not disclose investment figures, resource estimates or timelines.
A third source said EGA had previously considered investing in Ghana around 2022 but backed out to avoid jeopardizing its Guinea license. "They didn't want Guinea to feel they were shifting focus to Ghana," the source said.
"Sourcing bauxite from Ghana aligns with our objective to grow aluminium production by diversifying our supply base,' EGA said.
GIADEC aims to begin extraction and off-take from the area - known as Block B - in the first quarter of next year. While no deals have been finalised, talks with potential partners are at an advanced stage, according to the first source.
"We're looking at all options to see which one serves the interest of the nation," the first source said.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines projects national bauxite output will rise to 2 million tons in 2025, from a record 1.7 million tons this year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
STRATEGIC EQUITY CAPITAL: Giving small UK firms the muscle to take on the big boys
Investment trust Strategic Equity Capital has a bold approach. It takes big stakes in companies it likes in the expectation that its judgment will be proved right, then rewards its shareholders with attractive returns. Although the strategy is not foolproof, the current manager is making a mighty good fist of it. Since taking the reins in September 2020, Gresham House's Ken Wotton has delivered shareholder returns in excess of 100 per cent, outperforming both the average for the trust's peer group and its benchmark index, the FTSE Small Cap (excluding investment companies). Wotton's modus operandi at Strategic is to seek out opportunities in the smaller companies section of the UK stock market – a sector Gresham knows intimately as a result of running numerous other funds focused on it. 'I look for companies with market capitalisations between £100 million and £300 million,' he says, 'and provided the quality and valuation are right, become one of the biggest shareholders.' This approach, he says, gives the trust 'muscle' to 'actively engage' with the companies it buys. He adds: 'At one end of the scale, engagement may be rather benign and just a question of supporting a company's management plans. 'But at the other, it may be helping a company find a non-executive board member or pointing them in the direction of a merger and acquisitions boutique if they become the target of interest from a potential private equity buyer.' The fruits of this strategy can be rewarding. For example, one of the fund's top-ten holdings is Inspired, which advises companies on optimising their procurement and usage of energy. Wotton had been a backer of the company before he took over the helm at Strategic, and made it one of his first new holdings for the trust. He then kept tickling up the stake, participating in the company's raising of new capital late last year to reduce borrowings. Inspired was then subject to a hostile takeover by Regent, an owner of gas and infrastructure companies. Strategic said it would not back the deal and put adviser Evercore in touch with Inspired. The result was the discovery of 'white knight' HGGC, a US private equity firm, which trumped Regent's 68.5p a share deal by offering 81p a share. The new offer is likely to be accepted in the coming weeks, providing the trust with a tidy profit. The £168 million trust has 18 holdings – a concentrated portfolio, especially given the top-ten stakes account for nearly 80 per cent of assets. Wotton describes the other eight positions as 'toe-hold positions,' the trust's 'pipeline'. Some of these, he says, could benefit from the cash received from the sale of Inspired. Wooton says mistakes are part of being a fund manager. 'If you don't make them, you're not taking enough risk,' But he adds: 'Risk can be mitigated by engaging with company management – which Strategic does as a matter of course – selling out, or ensuring you have an appropriate-sized holding.' The manager believes the trust's prospects are 'really attractive' over the next three to five years, although he admits the FTSE AIM market – where a majority of the trust's holdings are listed – has been undermined by Labour's decision to reduce the inheritance tax attractions of holding AIM shares. 'There has been a lot of forced selling of shares,' he says, 'and some have been derated.' Annual trust charges are 1.2 per cent, the fund's stock market ticker is SEC, and identification code B0BDCB2.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
TONY HETHERINGTON: What's the truth about this energy firm promising me 12% returns?
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. R.B. writes: Some time ago I was contacted by TBE Consultants Ltd about investments in Terra Firma Energy Ltd. They said: 'Our clients enjoy a 12 per cent return on their capital inside 12 months.' I did not invest, but I have now seen a website called Stonehold Investment also promoting Terra Firma Energy. Are you able to find out anything about this company and the people who run it? Tony Hetherington replies: This investigation began in January, with more than a few twists and turns since then. Let's start with the sales firm TBE Consultants. Coincidentally, a few weeks after I began enquiring, its owner William Davies put it into liquidation with debts estimated at £1.7 million. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, Davies was once an investment adviser at Beaufort Securities, already a disreputable stockbroking company when he joined in 2005. The City watchdog fined it £90,000 in 2006. He also ran finance firm Salesian Consultants Ltd until he put this into liquidation in 2019. He borrowed more than £79,000 from it but convinced the liquidator to accept just £30,000 in settlement, saying he was close to bankruptcy. A few months later, Davies became a director of one of the Terra Firma Energy (TFE) group of companies and now sits on the board of four TFE businesses. So when TBE Consultants was recommending investment in TFE, Davies was a boss at both. The salesman who contacted you from TBE Consultants was Stephen Leary, whose background in dodgy investments is pretty scary. He is currently banned for 14 years from acting as a director of any limited company following his central role at Worldwide Commodity Partners Ltd, an investment scam which cost investors almost £3 million. That said, this does not stop him from working in his present role. According to the FCA, Leary was also at two separate disreputable stockbrokers, both exposed by The Mail on Sunday. And while a salesman at TBE Consultants he marketed loan bonds issued by Platinum Assets And Developments (PAD). I warned in 2020 that this was a high-risk scheme. It relied largely on the prospects of an offshoot, Platinum Energy Solutions, but last year the High Court ordered this into liquidation because of its debts. And here is a link to Terra Firma Energy. Peter Eagle was the managing director of the failed Platinum Energy Solutions, and he became a director of TFE in 2020 until quitting in 2021. The day-to-day management team at TFE are just as interesting. When I began investigating, its business development manager was Dan Keenan. In 2012 he was jailed for 11 years for money laundering and other financial crimes, linking him to a major drug dealer. And before this he was jailed for five years for blackmail and conspiracy to defraud. Mr Keenan vanished from TFE's website within hours of my first questions to the company. Simon Fagan was named as TFE's legal adviser. He is a Manchester solicitor, and in 2015 he was a director of radiator company Xefro Ltd, the parent company of Xefro Trade, which was wound up by the High Court following an investigation which described its products as defective and dangerous. Of course, none of this means TFE's 12 per cent loan notes will flop. The firm exists and runs 'battery farms' that store power with the idea of selling it on. It is concerning, though, that its website claims TFE is in partnership with National Grid, which told me: 'Terra Firma sell power to the electricity grid, or into the national energy market. They do not sell it to National Grid.' TFE did, however, say that their assets had participated in the electricity market. TFE's loan notes are only supposed to be offered to experienced or wealthy investors who can take risks. The website of Stonehold Investment – where you spotted the TFE investment – emphasises this. And it should know, as Stonehold Investment is just TFE itself using a different name! Stonehold has claimed to be 'award winners' and 'trusted by 123,000 investors'. What awards? And how many investors! Well, I asked TFE about Stonehold and about its personnel. TFE failed to reply, but back like a guided missile came a rocket fired at me by its lawyers. Stonehold's claims erroneously appeared in Google results, they conceded. TFE had no explanation but would correct this. Yes, William Davies was a stockbroker but was just one of many employees at firms penalised by the regulator. Nothing to do with TFE, they added. Yes, Stephen Leary is banned as a director for ripping off investors, but this does not ban him from recruiting investors now for TFE, they explained. Yes, Simon Fagan provides legal advice to TFE, but so what, as TFE has no connection to disgraced company Xefro. The lawyers insisted that TFE's management team had no idea of Dan Keenan's prison record and told me that he has now left the company by mutual agreement. If so, it might be a good idea to ask Mr Keenan to change his LinkedIn page, which still says he is TFE's full-time business development manager. It might also be a good idea for Helen Aletras, one of TFE's management team, to stop putting holiday photos online showing her with Mr Keenan, who she has known for many years. Mysteriously, investment in TFE's loan notes was promoted via a now-defunct website called This claimed that TFE has a '15-year purchase agreement with National Grid'. However, I am told now that TFE has no idea who ran the sales site, or why they promoted TFE as an investment. TFE's lawyers also told me there was no reason that any of this should be published. I disagree.
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Reuters
Berkshire takes $3.8 billion Kraft Heinz write-down, operating profit falls
Aug 2 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab said on Saturday it took a $3.76 billion write-down on its stake in Kraft Heinz (KHC.O), opens new tab during the second quarter, an acknowledgment the decade-old investment hasn't worked out. Berkshire also reported a 4% decline in quarterly operating profit as insurance underwriting premiums fell. The write-down and lower gains from common stocks caused a 59% drop in overall net income. Buffett's conglomerate signaled it remains cautious about market valuations, amid uncertainty about tariffs and growth in the broader economy. It reported a near-record $344.1 billion cash stake, and sold more stocks than it bought for an 11th straight quarter. As of mid-July, Berkshire hadn't repurchased any of its own stock since May 2024. Buffett, 94, has led Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire since 1965, though he plans to step down at year-end. "Investors are getting antsy and want to seek activity, and nothing is happening," said Kyle Sanders, an analyst at Edward Jones. "Buffett definitely views the market as overvalued, and will sit back and wait for something to come to him." Uncertainty about trade policies, including tariffs, has become a headwind as delayed orders and shipments led to declining revenue at most of Berkshire's consumer businesses. Jazwares, which makes the popular Squishmallows plush toys, saw revenue fall 38.5% in the year's first half. Analysts viewed overall results as lackluster. "Berkshire and the economy are at an inflection point," said Cathy Seifert, a CFRA Research analyst. "I don't think the market will embrace the combination of mediocre results, a lack of stock buybacks, and Berkshire's recent share underperformance amid a management transition." Seifert and Sanders rate Berkshire "hold." Second-quarter operating income fell to $11.16 billion, or about $7,760 per Class A share, from $11.6 billion a year earlier. Results included $877 million of currency losses as the U.S. dollar weakened. Net income, including gains and losses on stocks such as Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and American Express (AXP.N), opens new tab, fell to $12.37 billion from $30.35 billion. Revenue fell 1% to $92.52 billion. Buffett views unrealized investment gains and losses, including on stocks Berkshire has no plans to sell, as often meaningless to understanding his company. The $3.76 billion after-tax write-down for Berkshire's 27.4% Kraft Heinz stake, equal to $5 billion before taxes, followed the struggling food company's announcement it would consider strategic alternatives, which could include a breakup. Berkshire had carried Kraft Heinz on its books at above-market value but said economic and other uncertainties, and its longer-term plans to remain an investor, made the gap "other-than-temporary." The write-down is Berkshire's second for Kraft Heinz, following a $3 billion write-down in 2019. Buffett acknowledged at the time that Berkshire overpaid in the 2015 merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz, one of his biggest investment missteps. Kraft Heinz has suffered as more shoppers favor healthier and private-label alternatives. Its approximately 200 brands include Oscar Mayer, Kool-Aid, Velveeta and Jell-O. Berkshire also carries another big investment, its 28.1% stake in Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N), opens new tab at $5.3 billion above fair value, but reported no need for a write-down. Shares of Berkshire have fallen more than 12%, and lagged the Standard & Poor's 500 (.SPX), opens new tab by about 22 percentage points, since Buffett announced on May 3 he would step down as chief executive at year end. Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 63, will succeed him, though Buffett will remain chairman. Analysts said the premium embedded in Berkshire's stock price because of the presence of Buffett, arguably the world's most well-known investor, has eroded, while growth may slow in the insurance sector, a major Berkshire profit center. The lack of new investments has also been a drag. Analysts believe Berkshire's BNSF unit could buy CSX (CSX.O), opens new tab to create another transcontinental railroad, after Union Pacific (UNP.N), opens new tab agreed on July 29 to buy Norfolk Southern (NSC.N), opens new tab. Buffett transformed Berkshire over six decades from a troubled and since-closed textile company into a $1.02 trillion conglomerate. Berkshire owns several insurers and reinsurers, electric utility and renewable energy businesses, several chemical and industrial companies, and familiar consumer brands such as Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and See's Candies. Berkshire said the 12% quarterly decline in insurance underwriting profit stemmed primarily from reinsurance businesses and some smaller insurance businesses. Geico, its best-known insurance business, saw pre-tax underwriting profit rise 2%, as a 5% increase in premiums offset a smaller rise in accident losses. The car insurer has been ceding market share to State Farm and Progressive (PGR.N), opens new tab, while focusing on improving underwriting quality and technology and cutting jobs. Analysts said higher tariffs could be a headwind for Geico if the cost of auto parts rose, potentially increasing losses from accident claims. BNSF is also cutting expenses. Lower fuel costs helped boost quarterly profit 19% gain, though revenue and cargo volumes barely changed. The energy business, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, posted a 7% profit increase. Berkshire said it is evaluating the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed last month by U.S. President Donald Trump, on the "economics and viability" of its renewable energy, storage and technology-neutral projects.
