You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe Strikes Lithium Mining Deal
2018-02-07
[All Africa] State owned enterprise, the Zim-bob-we Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) has struck a lithium mining deal with a "quoted company" and an announcement will be made soon.

Speaking on Tuesday morning at an Investors' Breakfast meeting here, Mines and Mining Development Minister Mr Winston Chitando said since the new government took over in November last year, most expressions of interest have been in the lithium sub-sector.

Apart from the deal that has been concluded, Minister Chitando said there were two other projects that were currently finalizing feasibility studies.

Further, an additional two projects are at exploration or "source-quantification stage," said Mr Chitando.

Posted by:Fred

#16  "In fact, most of these countries should be introducing a mandatory draft. They are in the position of an Israel facing the combined Arab armies"

Many of those Countries have already been invaded by Arab armies. They opened the gates to the kingdom to them... like idiots... like Rome.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-07 22:33  

#15  In fact, most of these countries should be introducing a mandatory draft. They are in the position of an Israel facing the combined Arab armies. That is, if Arabia were unified under a single ruler.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-07 21:13  

#14  Also, look at how messy the post is with web links interspersed among the text.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-07 21:10  

#13  I understand you're trying to prevent spam in the comments, but why even have a hyperlink button if you don't allow hyperlinking?
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-07 21:09  

#12  We need all the help we can get. The Chinese don't have our installed base of equipment. But their military expenditures, at $200b, are already higher than ours (~$700b), when adjusted for salary differentials. A PLA lieutenant makes about http://english.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/china-military-news/2015-01/19/content_6314553.htm $500 a month compared to his US Army counterpart's https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/money/basic-pay-active-duty-soldiers.html $3K. And they don't have to deal with the transportation expenses of personnel, supplies and equipment related to large global expeditionary forces.

The shitheads who make up our military dependents allies in the Far East (including Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) don't seem to realize that if we fight China 20 years from now, Uncle Sam won't be able to wade in alone even if he wants to. We are gonna be like the Greek states fighting the Persian empire or Carthage fighting the Roman Republic - the underdogs. These morons are spending 1%, 2% or 3% of GDP on defense. China is spending 3%. They need to be spending like Israel - 5.8%. In fact, they should be spending at Eisenhower levels - https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/defense_spending" 10%.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-07 21:07  

#11  "You’ve clearly been sharpening that scalpel again, Zhang Fei. That last sentence — ouch."

He clearly cracked the code.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-07 19:17  

#10  You’ve clearly been sharpening that scalpel again, Zhang Fei. That last sentence — ouch.
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-07 15:26  

#9  The Chinese treasury is about to get dinged, as it was in Venezuela. But the point of many of these deals isn't actually to make money or even buy influence, even though these are the official (and ostensible) reasons. The real purpose is to generate large commissions for the relevant Chinese officials - via reach around arrangements with the relevant (suborned) foreign officials - who can then salt it away in their personal bank accounts, to be invested in countries without extradition treaties with China. From an American perspective, it's an excellent use of Chinese government funds that might otherwise have been spent on China's burgeoning military establishment.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-07 15:14  

#8  "In the green corner: the Patient Serpent vs 'Africa Wins Again'! Gentlemen, place your bets!"
Posted by: ed in texas   2018-02-07 10:33  

#7  Yes, the Chinese are very persistent, and Africa will absorb their plans and motivation pretty much the same way it has for the last 1,000 years.
Posted by: Cesare   2018-02-07 09:28  

#6  What g(r)omgoru said, the Chinese are... persistent (I am being nice hear in my choice of terminology).
IIRC, an American military talking to a NVA general years later on why the Vietnamese were leery of Chinese 'help': "We knew the Americans would leave in ten years or so. It took a thousand years to drive out the Chinese the last time."
Posted by: magpie   2018-02-07 03:42  

#5  But again, I always had a special place in my Heart for Rhodesia who fed almost all of Africa at one time.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-07 02:00  

#4  Africa likes to learn things the hard way.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-07 01:58  

#3  I believe Zimbabweans will find replacing whites with Chinese a grave error - Chinese don't need them for labor force.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-07 01:53  

#2  Yes, Chicom got done what I wanted bloodlessly. They get the medal.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-07 00:54  

#1  What is the Rantburg over-under on the quoted company being ChiCom (publicly or through cut-outs)? My bet is on ChiCom, of course.
Posted by: magpie   2018-02-07 00:36  

00:00