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The Pan-African Economy in Brief: Monday, December 10, 2018

KENYA:
Omani Raysut Cement plans to acquire the Kenyan group ARM Cement: "Omani cement group Raysut Cement announced in a press release issued on December 4 that it plans to acquire its Kenyan counterpart ARM Cement as part of its African expansion plan. "Raysut has expressed its interest in acquiring ARM Cement," said the Oman-based group in its press release. "The acquisition will complement Raysut's revised strategy to manufacture clinker near the markets it supplies in East Africa," it added, indicating that the transaction amount will exceed $100 million..."


UGANDA:
The value of transactions via mobile money reached $19.5 billion between June 2017 and June 2018: "Over the 12-month period ending June 30, 2018, the overall value of mobile money transactions jumped 38.4% to 73.1 trillion Ugandan Shillings, or about $19.5 billion, according to data provided by the country's central bank, according to the Ecofin Agency. This increase is due more to the increase in the volume of transactions, which rose from 1100 billion at the end of June 2017 to 1,300 billion transactions at the end of June 2018. A rather solid performance, especially since the number of subscribers dropped slightly, from 22.8 million users to only 22.7 million..."


GHANA:
The government is providing $4.5 million to train students for the oil market: "The Ghanaian government has just released a $4.5 million package to train students to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the oil sector, particularly upstream. This investment is part of a program called Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC). In total, 200 people are targeted. According to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, "This aims to build the capacity of Ghanaian technical and professional institutions and universities to provide world-class training and certification for the oil and gas industry..."


SENEGAL:
Iamgold will launch a 3,000-meter drilling program at Dalafin: "Iamgold Mining Company announced on Thursday that it will launch a 3,000-meter reverse circulation drilling program targeting the three main areas of the Dalafin gold project in Senegal. Previous drilling results have returned an average grade of 2.48 g/t gold. In conjunction with the Reverse Circulation Drilling Program, Iamgold is planning a 500 m Diamond Drilling Program to validate the two best intersections it has previously reported (9.6 m grading 16.08 g/t, and 15 m grading 6.1 g/t)..."


NAMIBIA:
Start of ore storage at the Uis tin mine: "AfriTin Mining announced on Thursday that it has carried out the first blasting and started storing Ore at its Uis mine in Namibia. After civil engineering work began in June 2018, the Company prepared and rehabilitated the Uis mine site for the commissioning of the Phase 1 pilot plant and the production of tin concentrate. "We are pleased to announce the first ore blasting at our Uis mine; since the mine closed in 1991. We are very pleased to begin the storage of Ore and Phase 1 production activities in anticipation of the completion of the Pilot Processing Plant," commented CEO Anthony Viljoen..."


IVORY COAST:
Maritime sector: opening of the G7 International Conference in Abidjan: "The 2018 session of the International Conference of the G7++, Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea, opened in Abidjan on Thursday, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Co-Chairmanship of Canada and Ivory Coast. This meeting, which is being held from December 6 to 7, 2018, is part of the vast momentum of international mobilization around the issue of piracy, safety and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. It brings together several experts from the maritime sector..."