JP Morgan’s love affair with Eritrea
JP Morgan Chase has emerged with 9.12% of Eritrea-focused Danakali whose flagship operation is the Colluli potash project, a 50-50 joint venture with the Eritrean National Mining Company. JP Morgan is no stranger to Eritrea and
JP Morgan Chase has emerged with 9.12% of Eritrea-focused Danakali whose flagship operation is the Colluli potash project, a 50-50 joint venture with the Eritrean National Mining Company.
JP Morgan is no stranger to Eritrea and already has an interest in Canada’s Nevsun Resources which operates Bisha, one of the few producing mines (copper-zinc) in the poverty-stricken and hugely under-developed East Africa country.
Two years ago, there were rumours QKR Corp, a mining fund headed by former JP Morgan banker Lloyd Pengilly, was close to making a bid for Nevsun, headquartered in Vancouver.
ASX-listed Danakali’s shares were up close to 4% following its disclosure JP Morgan was on the shareholder roster. The stock price is 45% to the good in the year-to-date.
Colluli’s JORC 2012 1.1 billion tonne ore reserve contains a unique suite of potassium salts that are in solid form and can be mined over 200 years starting with a shallow openpit, with payback of the US$300 million for Phase I expected within four years.
Investors have demonstrated their support to develop the project through a recent A$5.5 million (US$4.3 million) capital raising.
Broker Somers & Partners said JP Morgan had given Danakali “its seal of approval” and pointed out the American bank had “a successful track record in Eritrea through its investment in Nevsun”.
JP Morgan acquired its holding in Danakali through a A$6.7 million private placement earlier this month.
Somers said: “Danakali now has a strong supportive cornerstone investor to help grow the business as well as the funds to commence early-stage engineering works at Colluli.
“We expect the mining licence to be approved later this calendar year with funding and offtake to follow that.”
Source: mining-journal.com
Eritreawit August 27, 2016
Wow. zeyhafru belaetegna, How in the world is having a mining, for GOld and Potash and they turn around call it .poverty-stricken , LOL, antum senefat Eritreawean , hizbkhum bitmeyet yemeut , worqihum demma nikhalot . eway hateyat.
PH August 27, 2016
ምስዚ ኩሉ ሃብትና “ኢንጀራ ጀላዕ ኣይበላዕ”ብልጭሊጭ ባህሊ ዓዲ ሃገር ንምውናን ካብ ተደልየ’ዳሞ ወርቂናስ ይትረፍ መንነትና ንሸይጥ ኢኮ ኢና ዘለና።ጸገምና ስርዓት ህግደፍ ሙኻኑ ፍሉጥ ኢዩ ንሕና አሪትራውያን ጸገም ባዕልና ሙኹዋና ከኣ ፉሉጥ ኢዩ ብዘይምስማርና።ስለዚ፡ህዝቢ ከምህዝቢ ወይ ሃገር ከም ሃገር ክንቅጽል ካብ ዘይከኣልና shame on us!
Debru August 27, 2016
The Colluli potash project is not feasible, security wise. Only fools, naves or opportunists would tell you to put any money in this project. This project can go into flames at anytime. Across the Red Sea the savages are killing and burning each other, as in Yemen and the Saudi Barbarians soon too. The security in Ethiopia, that is, the Afar and Tigrai region can change for worse at anytime.
A single artillery shot from Tigray, let alone a drone and air bombardment, can destroy everything. This will make Colluli potash project a fools dream
k.tewolde August 27, 2016
Why not? The Bisha mining project is a few miles away from the border and the excavating continues uninterrupted.Why do you think the flotilla of carriers and RDF is strategically placed there.The looters are coming and the bodyguards who are going to share a fraction of the loot are welcoming them with a red carpet.They have enough money and firepower to douse the fire in the periphery.It is a beguiled nation that has never been enjoyed fully by its own people who bled for it.
Samson August 27, 2016
You and your present brutal mafia rulers who lived in fox holes and gorges of sahel to bake the destruction of the Eritrean people. You never had or will have the people’s interest or the well being of the Eritrean public at heart, you always looked after your narrow self-interests and your mainly mafia organization.
Samson August 27, 2016
please add the interest of your corrupt and brutal mafia organization.
Asmara Eritrea August 31, 2016
It seems to me a sad scenario to expect Ethiopia to do the job for us by bombing these plants. This demonstrates to me that we, as Eritreans, have lost the will to live perhaps brutalised by the beast in Asmara. I just hope this will be a temporary scenario and we will come to our senses eventually and do what we need to do ourselves. It is high time we stop talking and do the deed.
Eritrea forever, death to dictatorship..
Samson August 27, 2016
Debru well said. Eritrea is a country run by corporate group with no accountability to the public. Despite the false claim by the mafia regime that all is well and people are supportive of its effort to bring Eritrea in par with countries like Singapore or that people are benefiting from the mineral resources. The fact remains Eritrean people are near starvation requiring outside help for survival. The sooner countries of good will join hands to pressurize the brutal mafia regime to change its way and adopt normal state behavior the better for the people.
ዮሃንስ August 29, 2016
ዳሓን ባዓል እዚኤን ፍሉጣት በላዕቲ ደምን ስጋን ደቂ ኣዳም ከምኡውን ከም ባዓል ቀጠር፣ ዒማራት፣ ወዘተ ይምጻኣም ምስ ኣጽፋረን ንኤሪትራ እቲ ዝመጽእ ሳዕቤን ነቲ ወዲ ሃገር ፍሉጥ እዩ። ብቑጠባን ብኻልእን ኣብ ገዛአ ሃገርካን፣ ዓድኻን መረበትካን ዝዕብልለካ መጻእተኛ ጽንሕ ኢሉ ድማ ንስኹም ድኣ ምስቶም ዝመስልኹም ናብ ስግረ መረብ ከትነንበሩ ኪዱ እምበር እንታይ ኣሎኩም ኣብዚ ክይባሃል እዩ ብፍላይ እቲ ዝመጽእ ወለዶ። እወ ብዘይ ንሕሲያ ቅድሚ ክንድዚ ኣማኢት ዓመታት ናብዚ ፈሊስኩም መጽኢኩም ዝሓዝክሞ ቦታ እዩ ዋናታቱ ኣሎውዎ ክይንባሃል። እህህ፣ ቀሊል ኣይኮነን እዚ ናይ ጽባሕ ተካኢ ወለዶ ዝጽበዮ ዘሎ መስገደል። እይትብክ እንድዩ ዘብክዬኒ ዘሎ
Berhe August 29, 2016
The current regime is a fertile ground for foreign investors but not for Eritreans. Investors such as JP Morgan knows very well the dictator is in the corner. They need no peace no war situation so that they would have cheap deals with the cornered government. The dictator also knows very well they are the life line for his survival. The main problem here is us the people of Eritrea. Unless we stand up together the looting will continue for ever. Look Democratic Republic of Congo there are more than 50 mining companies with no central government to control the output. Eritrea is dying my friends.