Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain
Great Dyke Investments (GDI) Ltd. said on Thursday it would invest about 400 million dollars to build a precious metals mine and smelter in Zimbabwe as the country opens up to international business.
The joint venture between Russia’s JSC Afromet and Zimbabwe’s Pen East Ltd., expects to produce up to 855,000 ounces (27 tonnes) of platinum group metals and gold per year from the Darwendale PGM project.
Its deposit, which has total resources of around 1,300 tonnes of platinum group metals (PGMs), is part of the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe and is the world’s biggest PGM asset, the companies said in a statement.
Zimbabwe is the third largest platinum producer at 445,000 ounces last year, behind South Africa and Russia, according to the World Platinum Investment Council.
GDI’s chief executive Igor Higer expects the project will double the production of PGMs in Zimbabwe. He is one of several investors who have spent more than 100 million dollars, which entitles them to special terms.
The mine life after project ramp-up to full capacity is estimated at 35 years.
“According to our estimates the investment in the first phase, the project construction is $400 million,” said Hepsina Rukato, chairman of the GDI board of directors.
The companies said that the initial infrastructure of roads, storage and residential facilities has been built.
The project is expected to create around 8,000 highly skilled jobs at full capacity.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and SFA Oxford provide analytical support to the project. Cresco Project Finance and EY have been engaged as financial advisers.
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