Botswana names Canadian firm as preferred bidder for copper mine

Mbongeni Mguni, Bloomberg News 

• 
  

  
  

  Feb 13, 2021
  
  

  OMMODITIES

 

• News Wire

 

• Company News

 

• Investing

Ore is poured into a tank in the mill area at Freeport McMoRan Inc.'s Grasberg copper and gold mining complex in Papua province, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. Freeport is the world's largest publicly traded copper producer. Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg Intelligence , Bloomberg

Botswana picked Premium Nickel Resources Corp. as the preferred bidder for its shuttered copper mining group BCL Ltd., according to Mmetla Masire, the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security.

The privately owned Canadian minerals investor has six months to conduct due diligence before making an offer for the state-owned miner, Trevor Glaum, BCL’s liquidator, said in a Feb. 11 memorandum to remaining workers at the group. Glaum couldn’t be reached for comment on the memo.

Premium Nickel is seeking US$26.5 million of financing to be used for its due-diligence process, according to a January presentation on the website of North American Nickel Inc., the Vancouver-based founder shareholder of Premium Nickel.

BCL went into liquidation in October 2016 due to high operational costs and low base metal prices. Its mines employed more than 5,000 workers at the time oftheir closing and have become a political sore point for President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s administration.

Putin needs more details of Musk's Clubhouse offer, Kremlin says

Ilya Arkhipov and Andrey Biryukov, Bloomberg News

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. , Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin may not use social media but the Kremlin is still keen to learn more about billionaire Elon Musk’s invitation to chat on the Clubhouse app.

“It’s undoubtedly a very interesting offer, but we need to know what he means, what’s he’s proposing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call Monday. While Putin personally doesn’t use social media, “we’ll check it out first and then we’ll respond,” Peskov said.

было бы большой честью поговорить с вами

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2021

The chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX tweeted at the Kremlin’s official Twitter account at the weekend, asking if Putin wanted to join him for a conversation on Clubhouse, which allows people to create digital discussion groups. Peskov didn’t say whether anyone in the Kremlin uses the invitation-only app.

 CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

FX rigging may have spread to 200 chat rooms, lawyer says

Ellen Milligan, Bloomberg News

Pedestrians pass a currency exchange in Madrid, Spain, on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. The pound rallied on mounting speculation that Britain and the European Union are closing in on a Brexit trade agreement. Photographer: Paul Hanna/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Traders may have used as many as 200 online chat rooms to rig foreign exchange rates, far more than previously thought, a lawyer for investors told a London court Monday.

Marie Demetriou, a lawyer for investment funds suing seven banks, said that some of the newly discovered chat rooms were instant message groups that lasted just a few hours while others were “permanent” fixtures established over months.

The chat rooms, as well as emails, telephone calls and WhatsApp messages will play a central role in a suit brought by investment funds. They’re suing banks including Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co over allegations they lost money as a result of illegal manipulation of the FX market.

As a result of the disclosures, the investors are now in the process of re-pleading their case, Demetriou said. They expect that when the remainder of disclosure is given, “further chat rooms and unlawful anticompetitive communications will be identified,” she said.

Citi, JPMorgan and Barclays were among five banks that agreed in 2019 to pay European Union fines totaling 1.07 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) as part of a settlement with the antitrust regulator. Those probes focused on two cartels that traders ran on chat rooms called “Essex Express n’ the Jimmy” and “Three Way Banana Split,” swapping sensitive information and trading plans that allowed them to make informed decisions to buy or sell currencies.

Officials at the banks couldn’t be immediately reached to comment.

The banks face lawsuits in the U.S. and U.K. over traders’ manipulation of benchmark foreign-exchange rates a decade ago. More than a dozen financial institutions have paid about US$11.8 billion in fines and penalties globally in regulatory probes, with another US$2.3 billion spent to compensate customers and investors.

The investment funds include Allianz, PIMCO, Brevan Howard and BlueCrest, and some of the world’s largest pension funds, including the four state pension funds of the Kingdom of Sweden and a Danish pension fund.

A representative for the claimants declined to comment.

The funds engaged in very substantial volumes of FX trading between 2003 and 2013 -- the period covered by the lawsuit -- with more than 2.5 million trades identified to date, Demetriou said.

CPP OWNS THIS

Arc Resources, Seven Generations merging in major Montney Natural Gas tie-up

Noah Zivitz, BNN Bloomberg
Feb 11, 2021

Arc Resources Ltd. and Seven Generations Energy Ltd. announced a tie-up late Wednesday, in a transaction that would bring together a pair of major players in Canada's Montney region.

Under the terms of the transaction, Seven Generations shareholders will receive 1.108 Arc shares for each share held. Once the deal closes, Arc's shareholders will own 49 per cent of the combined entity and Seven Generations holders will own 51 per cent, according to a joint media release. The combined company will retain Arc's name and will be headquartered in Calgary.

According to the release, the combined company will be "the largest pure-play Montney producer" with annual production hitting 340,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day across 1.1 million acres of land. The companies said they see potential for $110 million in annual cost savings by next year.

According to the companies, the combined entity would be the sixth-largest upstream energy producer in Canada. The combined firm plans to continue to pay Arc’s current $0.06 per share quarterly dividend, subject to approval from its board.

While Seven Generations' investors will hold a narrow majority of the shares, Arc will have a stronger hand in the boardroom. Indeed, the two companies said the combined entity's board of directors will have 11 members, with six seats occupied by Arc appointees.

Arc Chair Hal Kvisle, an industry veteran who has previously served as CEO of TransCanada Corp and Talisman Energy Inc., will remain chair after the deal closes, while Arc President and CEO Terry Anderson will hang on to those titles.

The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, including a vote by Seven Generations shareholders on the offer, and a vote by Arc shareholders on the necessary share issuance.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which owns 16.8 per cent of Seven Generations' shares, has already confirmed its intent to support the offer, according to the release.

The two companies said they expect the deal to close in the second quarter of this year.

RBC is serving as Arc's financial advisor on the deal, while CIBC is advising Seven Generations.

CPPIB OUR NATIONAL PENSION FUND INVESTS IN FRACKING

Oil and gas production

The Montney Formation is a major shale gas and tight oil resource. A comprehensive joint study on the potential of the Montney Formation was completed by the National Energy Board, British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission and the Alberta Energy Regulator in 2013. This study found that the potential resources contained within the formation were 449 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas, 14,521 million barrels of marketable natural gas liquids (NGLs) and 1,125 million barrels of oil. This estimate makes it one of the largest known gas resources in the world and equivalent to 145 years of Canada's 2012 consumption.^[5][6]

Gas is produced from the Montney Formation in both British Columbia and Alberta. Major operators include Seven Generations Energy Ltd., Progress Energy Canada Ltd. (a subsidiary of Malaysia's (PETRONAS), Painted Pony Energy Ltd., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Encana Corporation, Murphy Oil Corporation, ARC Resources Ltd., and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd.^[7][8] and oil is produced from the formation in Northern Alberta.^[4] Horizontal drilling and extensive fracturing process is necessary to have the fluid flow through the low permeability siltstone. Shale gas extraction emerged in the late 2000s in the distal facies of the formation's western extent.

Hydraulic fracturing in Canada

Main article: Hydraulic fracturing in Canada

Massive hydraulic fracturing has been widely used in Alberta since the late 1970s.^[9]:1044 The method is currently used in development of the Cardium, Duvernay, Montney and Viking formations in Alberta, Bakken formation in Saskatchewan, Montney and Horn River formations in British Columbia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montney_Formation

CANADA

 Mandatory vaccination for health care workers: an analysis of law and policy

Colleen M. Flood, Bryan Thomas and Kumanan Wilson

CMAJ February 08, 2021 193 (6) E217-E220; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.202755

• Article
• Figures & Tables
• Related Content
• Responses
• Metrics
•  PDF

KEY POINTS

• An effective vaccine provided to all health care workers in Canada will protect both the health workforce and patients, reducing the overall burden of coronavirus disease 2019 on services and ensuring adequate personnel to minister to people’s health needs through the pandemic.

• Provincial governments should put in place rules for mandatory vaccination of health care workers that cut across all public and private settings, and should not leave this to the discretion of individual employers.

• If individual employers were to require vaccination among their staff, the legality of these mandates would likely be determined via labour law that considers the “reasonableness” of the employer’s directive, as is evident from case law related to mandatory influenza vaccination.

• Government mandates for the vaccination of health care workers may be challenged under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but these challenges, on the extant evidence, likely will not succeed if provisions are made for those who cannot receive the vaccination because of underlying health issues and for those who object to vaccination on bona fide religious or conscientious objection grounds.

• Challengers may argue that health care workers have the right to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) in lieu of receiving vaccination, which means that governments must support vaccine surveillance and keep abreast of emerging evidence of the effectiveness and safety of the various severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines relative to evidence of the effectiveness of PPE in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

With the approval of vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the vaccination of Canada’s health care workers who come in direct contact with patients is a top priority.1 The important question arises of whether governments, public health care organizations and private actors, such as the companies that own and administer long-term care facilities, should consider taking the controversial step of making SARS-CoV-2 vaccination mandatory, whether by direct regulation or under terms of employment. The rationale for taking such a step is that vaccination will protect individual health care workers, and the patients for whom they care, from acquiring SARS-CoV-2. Preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in those who are vaccinated will also ensure that the health workforce does not become dangerously depleted. However, mandatory vaccination policies may be challenged. Historically, policies on mandatory influenza vaccination have been contested under labour law, and in theory might be challenged under human rights law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.2 We discuss legal precedents emerging from attempts to mandate influenza vaccines for health care workers and whether they translate to the context of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, and explain how both governments and individual employers (e.g., public hospitals or private long-term care homes) may legally justify SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations of health care workers.

Does case law on influenza vaccination apply to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination?

Much of the extant law relating to influenza vaccination for health care workers comes from labour arbitrator decisions (not courts) that resolve disputes between different employers (e.g., public hospitals) and health care workers’ unions. Agreements reached in the labour-law context do not limit choices by Canadian governments or employers with respect to SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. For example, an agreement reached between the British Columbia government and nurses in December 2019, leaving it to individual nurses whether to have the influenza vaccination, does not mean that going forward, the British Columbia government, public hospitals or long-term care homes are similarly limited in requiring SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. Moreover, law developed in the context of influenza vaccinations will not be applied indiscriminately to the COVID-19 context: law is adaptive to changing scientific evidence. An example of relevant evidence is that, compared with the various influenza strains, SARS-CoV-2 is both more transmissible and has a higher case fatality rate.3,4

The relatively short time frame of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development (less than a year) is also relevant; for some this may heighten concerns about safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, yet it bears mentioning that different influenza vaccines are administered every year.5 As we write, it is also not clear whether emerging vaccines will prevent transmission of all SARS-CoV-2 strains or whether trial estimates will be borne out in nontrial settings. The evidence on safety, effectiveness, reduction in infectivity and duration of immunity for the different vaccines will evolve as vaccination programs roll out. All these factors will be considered when assessing legal issues. Because the evidence is limited regarding the extent to which SARS-CoV-2 vaccination programs prevent transmission, one question relevant to legal disputes is whether other measures, such as masking, could be sufficiently effective and obviate the need to mandate vaccination.

READ ON OR DOWNLOAD PDF OF ARTICLE THROUGH LINKS AT THE TOP

 

Alphabet union alleges contract workers were silenced about pay

Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg News

Signage outside the Google campus in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Monday, July 27, 2020. Alphabet Inc.'s Google will let employees work from home until July 2021, once again pushing back the re-opening of its offices as the coronavirus continues to rage in many parts of the U.S. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Google contract workers were banned from discussing their pay, and one was suspended for her labor activism, according to a complaint from the Alphabet Workers Union.

In a Thursday filing with the National Labor Relations Board, the union accused the Google vendor Adecco of violating U.S. labor law by trying to silence employees. Management forbid employees at a data center in South Carolina from discussing their pay, according to the complaint. The managers also suspended a data technician because of a pro-union Facebook post, according to the union.

The union filed the complaint against Google parent Alphabet Inc., as well as units of Adecco, claiming that the internet giant is a “joint employer” -- a company with sufficient control over a group of workers to be legally liable for their treatment. Google and Adecco Group AG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The technician, Shannon Wait, said in an interview that her Facebook post explained she had joined the union to take on the demeaning treatment of subcontracted staff, such as the refusal to replace lost water bottles. Google’s direct employees are provided new ones when they need them, she said.

Wait said she’s been working full-time throughout the pandemic doing physically taxing tasks to keep servers running that Google relies on. “We are the backbone of Google,” she said. “We are doing the hard work.” The day after she posted her message, she said, she was called into a virtual meeting with management and told that she was being suspended and investigated as a “security risk.”

Wait’s Labor Board complaint is the first filed by the Alphabet Workers Union since the organization launched publicly last month. AWU, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, has so far signed up around 800 Google employees and contract workers as members. The group isn’t seeking collective bargaining with Alphabet management, which under U.S. labor laws would be difficult for contract workers to secure. Instead, it plans to use collective action and protests to force changes at the company, which in recent years has been roiled by worker revolts over issues including military contracts and sexual harassment. The treatment of subcontracted workers and independent contractors, who in 2018 became the majority of Alphabet’s global workforce, has been another long-running topic of controversy.

Google software engineer Parul Koul, the union’s executive chair, said Wait’s experience reflects a “massive double standard” between the treatment of Alphabet’s direct employees and the contract staff who work side-by-side with them. “They do have a responsibility to make sure that folks who are doing really mission-critical work for the company are treated fairly,” she said.

#ReleaseDishaRavi: Global Outrage After India Arrests Climate Activist Over Farmer Protest Toolkit Shared by Greta Thunberg

Ravi's arrest "is an unprecedented attack on democracy," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Supporting our farmers is not a crime."

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
Published on Monday, February 15, 2021
by Common Dreams

Activists belonging to various human rights organizations hold placards as they stage a demonstration against the arrest of the activist Disha Ravi by Delhi Police for her alleged involvement in the instigation of violence during the farmers' protest in Bangalore, India on February 15, 2021. 

(Photo: Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images)

Public figures within and beyond India are demanding the release of Disha Ravi, a climate campaigner accused of sedition for allegedly editing and distributing an activist "toolkit" in support of the ongoing farmers' protest that was tweeted by Fridays for Future founder Greta Thunberg.

A petition calling for Ravi's release has over 12,100 signatures. Activists, actors, politicians, and others have condemned her weekend arrest, which followed months of farmer-led demonstrations against agricultural reforms and other policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist government.

More than 50 academics, activists, and artists have released a joint statement denouncing Ravi's arrest as "disturbing," "illegal in nature," and an "over-reaction of the state," according to The Tribune, an English-language daily in North India.

#ToolkitsAreNotSedition #FreeDishaRavi
Preparing toolkits that make it easier for people of other countries to understand issues, support movements, is what activists all over the world do. Seeking global solidarity for farmers is not sedition. https://t.co/Bw7d0OoXJC

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) February 14, 2021

Arresting the activist, in her early 20s, "is an unprecedented attack on democracy," tweeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Supporting our farmers is not a crime."

Indian MP P. Chidambaram, also responded on Twitter, declaring that "the Indian state must be standing on very shaky foundations if Disha Ravi, a... student of Mount Carmel college and a climate activist, has become a threat to the nation."

"India is becoming the theatre of the absurd and it is sad that the Delhi Police has become a tool of the oppressors," he added. "I strongly condemn the arrest of Disha Ravi and urge all students and youth to raise their voices to protest against the authoritarian regime."

The incident also caught the attention of American lawyer Meena Harris—the vice president's niece—who shared a Twitter thread from poet Rupi Kaur:

Indian officials have arrested another young female activist, 21 yo Disha Ravi, because she posted a social media toolkit on how to support the farmers' protest. Read this thread about the sequence of events and ask why activists are being targeted and silenced by the government. https://t.co/ycUgDEqwdF
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) February 14, 2021

Delhi Police said in a series of tweets Sunday that Ravi—who co-founded a branch of the youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future in Bangalore—is a "key conspirator" in the "formulation" and "dissemination" of the toolkit. They also accused her of starting a related group on the messaging service WhatsApp.

The Guardian reports that Ravi "has now been charged with sedition and criminal conspiracy."

 According to the newspaper:

At a court on Sunday Ravi broke down in tears and said she had only edited two lines of the toolkit file. Police alleged in their statement they had technical evidence that Ravi's role in editing the toolkit was "many times more than the two lines editing that she claims." The court remanded Ravi to five days in police custody after police requested time to "unearth her connections with the Sikhs for Justice."

Previously, Delhi Police said the toolkit, a version of which is available on an encrypted site, "predates and indicates a copycat execution of a conspiracy behind" protests that turned violent on January 26. The police added that "the call was to wage economic, social, cultural, and regional war against India."

The available toolkit, which does not advocate violence, suggests actions such as supporting Indian farmers on social media using the hashtags #FarmersProtest and #StandWithFarmers, calling and emailing government representatives, and organizing or participating in on-the-ground protests.

"Disha is a dedicated climate activist," a volunteer at the India chapter of Fridays for Future who declined to be named due to safety concerns told CNN. "It was difficult to wrap my head yesterday when I came to know about [her arrest], I was shocked."

"This leads to a lot of caution," the volunteer added. "We are asking for livable future... It is our right."

We know #climatechange is an existential threat. World desperately needs the passion and commitment of the youth and their loud and strong voice to shake it to more action #FreeDishaRavi
— Sunita Narain (@sunitanar) February 15, 2021

Leo Saldanha, a member of the Environment Support Group in Bengaluru, which organized the petition, told Reuters that Ravi's arrest is aimed at quashing dissent.

"This is their way of trying to scare away youngsters from raising their voice about anything," Saldanha said of the Indian government. "This sends a message to all young people out there that, you know, shut up and stay at home or this is what is going to happen to you."

Supporters of Ravi—including Indian actors Siddharth and Swara Bhasker—have turned to social media to call for her release using the hashtags #DishaRavi, #FreeDishaRavi, and #ReleaseDishaRavi.

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution

#ReleaseDishaRavi

HINDUTVA PROPAGANDA
'Anarchists Trying To Create A Civil War': BJP MP Lekhi Hits Out At Global Conspiracy

Addressing the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi pointed out at the global conspiracy to defame India, highlighting the violence on R-Day

Written ByJitesh Vachhatani


Hitting out at the 'toolkit' plot and meddling of foreign celebrities in India's internal affairs, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi remarked that anarchists and rogue forces are trying to create a 'civil war in this country'. Addressing the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening, Lekhi pointed out at global conspiracy to defame India. Citing the riots in Delhi before former US President Donald Trump's visit and the violence during the farmers' tractor rally on January 26, the BJP MP asserted that the events were attempts to divert global headlines towards stating that India is 'not a good place for investments'.

"Anarchists and rogue forces are trying to create a civil war in this country. It was seen during the CAA protests. It was seen on 26th January. What the world should be discussing is how China should be penalised for the spread of COVID but today the world is discussing the farm laws in the name of farmers, to get the global headlines that India is not a good place for investments. Riots happened just a day before Trump's India visit. Same happened on 26th January," Lekhi said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening.

"There is a molotov cocktail going. It includes Khalistanis, PFI which we saw in CAA and it also includes ISI propaganda. When you see the referendum of Khalistan in 2020, it does not talk about Nankana Sahib, it does not talk of the Sikh sites present in Pakistan and that is a giveaway that who is involved and who are being his masters' voice sitting in Beijing," she added.

READ | 'Toolkit Matter Of Grave Concern, Proves Attempts To Defame India': Prakash Javadekar

Violence breaks out on R-Day

The farmers' tractor rally took a violent turn on January 26 on the occasion of Republic Day as the protesting farmers clashed with police personnel in the national capital. The protesting farmers on January 26 entered the national capital from three routes emanating from the Singhu border, the Tikri border and the Ghazipur border, following the Delhi Police's nod for a peaceful protest. However, despite Sanyukt Kisan Morcha's assurance and Delhi Police's conditions for the tractor march, violence broke out as the farmers attempted to divert from the route finalized for the tractor rally. The protesting farmers with their tractors broke the barricades and cemented barriers at Delhi’s Mukarba Chowk, prompting Delhi Police to use tear gas shells against them.

READ | Deep Sidhu Sent To 7-day Police Custody In Connection With 26 January Violence

Earlier, Greta Thunberg had shared a 'toolkit' which comprised of an organised plan of 'Twitter storm' on February 4 and 5, and then solidarity messages by February 5 and 6, besides the Republic Day plot to carry out protests outside the Indian embassies across the world. Just hours later, the toolkit was deleted and an updated toolkit with certain omissions was posted by Greta Thunberg.

Following the newsbreak by Republic Media Network, the Delhi Police has also filed an FIR against the 'toolkit' under sections 124 A (sedition), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 153 A (spreading hatred among communities) of IPC. The toolkit shared by Thunberg encouraged people to organise solidarity protests either at or near Indian Embassies, local government offices, or offices of various multinational Adani and Ambani companies.

READ | PM Modi Gets Emotional While Bidding Farewell To Cong MP Ghulam Nabi Azad In Rajya Sabha

READ | 'There Has Been A Criminal Conspiracy': Naqvi On Farmers' Tractor Rally Turning Violent

 #ReleaseDishaRavi

After Disha Ravi, Delhi Police make two more arrests in Greta toolkit row

The police claimed Disha, who was arrested by the force on Saturday from Bengaluru, sent the "toolkit" to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg via Telegram app.

#DishaRavi​​ #GretaThunbergToolkit​​ #GretaToolkit​​ #GretaThunberg​​ #NikitaJacob​​ #GretaThunbergFarmersProtest

GREEN CAPITALI$M
RENEWABLE REWARDS
Africa’s renewable energy projects to shine more light in 2021

By The Africa Report
Posted on Monday, 15 February 2021 

Solar companies are rushing to fill Nigeria's energy gap. 

REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

If you are looking for the way the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, turn to Egypt’s Benban solar park. The huge project, which will have the capacity to produce 1.8GW on completion, is proposing to sell surplus electricity at a tenth of the price of legacy power generators in Europe.

Talks are underway to build power connections to Europe and elsewhere in Africa. Other big solar plants in the pipeline are likely to be delayed by the economic uncertainty around Covid-19, says Jaakko Kangasniemi, CEO of Finland’s development finance institution, FinnFund.

READ MORE Madagascar's Filatex to start work on Côte d’Ivoire solar production

He says governments are unlikely to back power-­purchasing agreements while finances are being restructured. But, Kangasniemi says, the money is not going to be idle: instead, developers are targeting smaller industrial and commercial solar projects “like a factory or a block of apartments, or a neighbourhood […]. We are not talking a quarter of a million solar panels, but a few hundred or a thousand panels, around 1MW.”

READ MORE African debt: What to watch in 2021

One recent example: one of Zimbabwe’s biggest coldchain and tobacco players, Nhimbe Fresh, has signed a deal with South African startup Sun Exchange for a 1.9MW solar installation.

Sun Exchange crowdsources crypto­currency leasing of solar cells – the latest iteration of the new micropayments for energy story that has taken off in recent years. Africa-focused miners are turning to renewables too.

READ MORE Greenlight Planet seeks financing to support solar power expansion

CrossBoundary Energy has been aggregating these industrial and commercial solar agreements for a while. It recently sold off its 40MW off-grid solar portfolio to ARCH Emerging Markets Partners. Investors got an exit and a 15% return on their money, sending a clear signal: you can make good money from African solar.

This article is available as part of the print edition of The Africa Report magazine: ‘Africa in 2021 – Who will be the winners and losers of the post-Covid era’?