Financial Times Blog – China is not the only country intent on taking a bigger slice of Africa’s resource sector. An Australian government report out on Tuesday said 220 of the country’s mining and oil companies now operated in 42 African countries. Their projects have tripled in number to 595 in the past six years, although this has not yet translated into more commerce: two-way merchandise trade between Africa and Australia has flatlined at about A$5.4bn in recent years.

Ahead of this week’s mining Indaba, a big conference in Cape Town, Australian officials are keen to emphasise the credentials of their home-grown mining companies, presumably with an eye to building stronger economic links between the continents.

Mining is Canberra’s trump card. The Australian mining sector is one of the most developed and technologically advanced in the world and includes industry big boys like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto all the way down to tiny explorers as well as a host of equipment and service providers.

Greg Hull, Australia’s trade commissioner to sub-Saharan Africa, says much of Africa’s natural resources are still unexploited and the prices for its commodities, ranging from coal to iron ore, will be underpinned by demand from China and India.

“It’s a very competitive continent and it’s exciting compared with the mining industry in Europe and the US,” he says.

Australia’s reinvigorated interest in Africa may also have a political dimension.

Kevin Rudd, Australian’s foreign minister, wants to secure one of the non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and Africa’s support could be crucial to that goal when the vote is taken next year.

When he met a host of African leaders during a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month, Rudd said Australian companies had already ploughed A$20bn into African mining projects. Canberra, he added, wanted to look west across the Indian Ocean to deepen its engagement with Africa.

Russian Envoy

SUNA News Agency reports that Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan Thursday received the Russian envoy for Sudan, Mikhail Margelov.

Both discussed ways of enhancing the economic co-operation between Sudan and Russia in the fields of energy, mining, petroleum and infrastructures in the field of processing industry and petro-chemicals. Present at the meeting were representatives of a number of Russian companies.

The minister welcomed the desire of the Russian side to consolidate its economic relations with Sudan, affirming Sudan’s readiness to engage in real partnership with Russia and to enable the Russian companies to operate in Sudan.

Meanwhile, representative of the Russian companies expressed their desire to establish investment projects in the oil, mining, gold and electricity power sectors in Sudan.

Both countries reviewed means for boosting the Sudanese – Russian bilateral relations and to consolidate them further.

The meeting, which was attended by the Russian Ambassador to Sudan, and a number of the representatives of the Russian companies in Sudan discussed horizons of investment in the fields of energy, oil, electricity, petro-chemical industries and heavy industry.

China in Africa

DALIAN, China, Sept 11 – Standard Bank (SBKJ.J: Quote), Africa’s top bank by assets, said on Friday it had obtained a $1 billion loan facility from four Chinese banks, drawing on its equity tie-up with China’s biggest bank to push into Asia.

China has been pouring money into resource-rich Africa, welcomed by some, but drawing criticism from Western aid groups, who say the country is turning a blind eye to misrule and corruption.

China argues it is spreading prosperity in the world’s poorest continent where the West has failed.

One of the four Chinese banks behind the facility is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK: Quote) (601398.SS: Quote), which owns 20 percent of Standard Bank and is the world’s biggest bank by market value, Standard Bank said in a statement.

The other three banks are Bank of China (3988.HK: Quote) (601988.SS: Quote) China Development Bank and China CITIC Bank (601998.SS: Quote) (0998.HK: Quote), according to the statement.

“This deal will serve as a platform for future cooperation between Standard Bank and these banks across a range of different banking products and geographies to support Chinese companies going global into emerging markets,” said Standard Bank Chief Executive Jacko Maree in the statement.

CHINA PARTNERS

Standard Bank and ICBC aim to jointly support Chinese companies going out into emerging markets especially into Africa, Maree said.

The facility between Standard Bank and its Chinese partners is a five-year fund-raising deal, repayable in a bullet capital single tranche at maturity, and the facility is a “debut term loan for Standard Bank’s fund raising in the Asian market”, the bank said in the statement.

Standard Bank expects to seal a dozen major lending deals in Africa with its China partner next year, as resource-hungry Chinese firms begin returning to the continent, Reuters reported earlier this week. [ID:nHKG127767]

Standard Bank has said that Chinese companies are looking for opportunities in Africa with focuses on mining, oil and gas and mineral sectors, where the African bank expects to see fast-growing and huge demand for financing in these resources and infrastructure-related sectors. Source: (Reuters)