Devils Below

DRC Government Releases Official Response to AFC/M23 Mine Collapse 🌟 The collapse of a rebel-controlled mine has given Kinshasa the perfect opportunity to once again recite the long list of AFC/M23’s mortal sins to the world. In an official statement, the government pointed to a "more than 200% increase" in Rwanda’s coltan exports (January–June 2025) as evidence of "fraudulent laundering of Congolese minerals." It cited all existing international laws and UN Security Council resolutions violated by the rebels—while also noting that exports from eastern Congo’s mines are formally banned by Kinshasa itself. As the cherry on top, DRC Government Spokesman Patrick Muyaya released a video showing how mining sites in Rubaya expanded between April 2024 and March 2025. P.S. The eeriest background music in the spokesman’s video is his own choice—it’s the original. ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow

Nigeria’s Oil Minister Proposes Revisiting Local Content Policy in Favor of Foreign Firms 🌐According to Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri, local contractors charge excessively high fees for oil and gas exploration and production services. He traced the issue to what he called the "misapplication" of the local content law since its enactment in 2010. Speaking at the official opening of the 2026 Nigeria International Energy Summit, minister said the requirement to hire local Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) firms has led to monopolization by Nigerian companies, inflating prices: 🔴 Monopoly in the sense that, perhaps not a siphon, maybe the only company that, whatever price they give to you, you have to take. Because there is no competition, you know. There is no competition between international EPCs and indigenous firms. Lokpobiri suggested that bringing back foreign contractors could help reduce costs, though he didn't call for repealing outright the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act. Notably, when the law was passed in 2010, Lokpobiri himself was a member of the National Assembly committee that oversaw the legislation. ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow

Victims of Market Quotes 🌟 Beyond the collapse at the coltan mine in AFC/M23 territory, the past month has been particularly rife with tragic incidents at natural mineral extraction sites. In addition to the 200 deaths from the Rubaya mine collapse, at least 29 more people have fallen victim to workplace accidents across the continent. In some cases, the cause of death was mine collapses triggered by the rainy season, as seen in the DRC and Mozambique. In others, human error was to blame, such as at another site in Mozambique, where people died of poisoning after falling asleep in a mine with a running generator. Finally, in Nigeria, at least seven people were killed in an armed attack. Ultimately, these people became victims of their hopes for a decent income, while financial and banking managers across the ocean sought to profit from the volatile prices of minerals — mainly gold. ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow

🌐Weekly News Digest [ January 26 – February 1 ] That was a week of bribery charges and expansion of extraction activities across the whole continent. 💡Here are the key highlights: 🇩🇿 Algeria — Algeria’s minister for hydrocarbons visits Chad and Niger 🇨🇬 Congo — Two Norwegians and an oil company charged with bribing Congo’s president 🇨🇩 DR Congo — The leader of the AFC/M23 critisizes the US-DRC strategic agreement on access to minerals — More than 200 killed in a collapse at the AFC/M23-controlled Rubaya coltan mines in eastern DRC 🇱🇷 Liberia — Liberia ratified an agreement with the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, extending the company’s rights to the Tokadeh iron deposit until 2075 🇲🇱 Mali — China’s largest mining company, Zijin buys Canadian company Allied Gold 🇲🇬 Madagascar — Madagascar has lifted its 2010 moratorium on new mining permits, except for gold 🇲🇿 Mozambique — TotalEnergies officially resume the Mozambique LNG project 🇳🇬 Nigeria — Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu grants tax incentives to speed up Shell’s Bonga South West oil project — TotalEnergies sells its 10% stake in a Nigerian oil asset to a brand new local firm — A bribery trial of a former Nigerian minister of petroleum opens in London 🇸🇩 Sudan — Sudan seeks closer alignment with Saudi Arabia, including gold refinement 🇿🇲 Zambia — Zambia’s army carries out a full-fledged military operation around a gold deposit in the northwest of the country 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe — Illegal miners blamed for water supply disruptions in Zimbabwe's second largest city — Zimbabwe starts early implementation of increased royalties on gold mining #NewsDigest ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow

Nigeria’s State Oil Corporation NNPC Faces New Corruption Lawsuit from Local NGO 🌐 The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) over its alleged failure to account for more than $50 million in oil revenue. 🔸Over the past six months, the state-owned oil corporation—which operates across all stages of fuel production—has faced increasingly frequent accusations of opaque financial mismanagement. The new claim is based on the 2022 audited report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on September 9, 2025. 🔸Simultaneously, another NGO organized protests, demanding that the Nigerian anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), investigate NNPC’s operations. 🔴 "The federal republic of Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, is employing tremendous effort ... to reshape the narrative surrounding the good image of our beloved country, Nigeria. It is thus ignoble on the part of any public officer, particularly the management of NNPC, under the leadership of Mr Bayo Ojulari ... to sabotage the efforts of this government", said the group. Despite persistent allegations of financial mismanagement, in December, Nigeria's Tinubu wrote off approximately $1.4 billion of NNPC’s debt. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

Mali Doesn't Want to Share Gold With Burkina? 🌐On January 23, Mali detained five managers from the local operator of the Yanfolila gold mine (126km to the south from Bamako) over alleged violations of the country’s mining code. 🔸 The detained managers work for Société des Mines de Komana (SMK), a company owned by Burkinabé businessman Idrissa Nassa—a figure close to the government in Ouagadougou. Nassa’s West Africa-focused lender, Coris Bank International, acquired the Yanfolila mine from a UK-based company in 2025 through its subsidiary, Nioko Resources. 🔸 The employees were detained for allegedly failing to repatriate foreign currency from export revenues, a requirement under Mali’s mining code. 🔸 Nassa faces no friction with the government on his other projects: on January 28, Bamako approved an agreement to begin mining at a site operated by Australian company Toubani Resources, which had just days earlier secured an $80 million loan from Nassa. The arrests likely stem from transactions conducted by the managers under the mine’s previous British owners. This was made possible by Mali’s localization policy, which mandates that most personnel be local—which creates jobs but also prevents managers from fleeing when asset moves to new owners. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

Did You Know What to Look for When Visiting Space? [ History ] 🛰 Many believe that the Great Wall of China is visible from space, but in reality, that’s a myth—the wall is way too small. What you can see from orbit, however, are the craters of open-pit mines and the cities that have sprung up around them in southern DRC, in Africa’s Copperbelt. Three major cities have grown along the mines and pits of this region: Kolwezi, Lubumbashi (DRC), and Ndola (Zambia). The straight-line distance from Kolwezi to Lubumbashi is about 250 km, and another 180 km to Ndola. 🌟 The fact that all of this is clearly visible from space clashes somewhat with another fact: the region’s record as a global open-pit mines construction hub can be traced back to a single Belgian company—one that still exists today. That company was Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), founded in 1906 to mine copper in Congo. Over the decades, it extracted resources worth $5.5 billion (at mid-20th-century exchange rates), digging pits near Kolwezi, Likasi (Shinkolobwe mine), Kipushi and Lubumbashi (Ruashi, Etoile mines). There were some positives—like building railways, later abandoned—but the company is best remembered in popular memory for financially backing the secessionist quasi-state of Katanga, which rebelled against Patrice Lumumba’s government in 1960. Interestingly, the original plan—to support the secessionists and thus avoid nationalization by Lumumba’s leftist government—failed on three levels. First, Katanga lost the war and was dissolved in 1963. Then, its former leader, Moise Tshombe, who became prime minister of the entire Congo, nationalized some company’s shares in 1964. 🔫Finally, on December 31, 1966, General Mobutu, who had seized power, nationalized UMHK entirely. Since then, UMHK in Congo has become the public company Gécamines, which still manages the state’s shares in mineral assets. Meanwhile, the company’s European office evolved into Umicore, which also deals in minerals—though, of course, it can no longer turn part of another country into a lunar landscape. #History ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

After 16 years, Madagascar has lifted its moratorium on new mining permits, except for gold. The Madagascar Council of Ministers announcedcompanies may once again get new mining permits. The respective ban was initially imposed in 2010 to address governance weaknesses and modernize the country’s legal framework. The urgency to reopen the mining sector increased following widespread unrest in late 2025. Mass youth-led protests over chronic water and power shortages, corruption, and poverty led to the removal of both the Prime Minister and the President. 📈 The new government, led by interim President Colonel Michaël Randrianirina is apparently seeking to leverage prospective revenues from mineral wealth to show tangible results of its short reign to the citizens. Despite hosting valuable mineral resources, including one of the world’s largest nickel mines, Madagascar’s extractive exports and activities have been in decline. The moratorium, which was meant to be temporary, persisted through successive administrations, creating a queue of some 1,600 license applicants as of 2023. While other mineral sectors are reopening, gold remains tightly controlled. The refers to its inability to effectively regulate the sector and establish a rigorous monitoring system. The country, nevertheless, does suffer from widespread artisanal activity, while only negligible amount of gold is declared officially. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

The Mozambique LNG project, led by TotalEnergies, has officially resumed after a prolonged pause, aiming to generate its first liquefied natural gas in 2029. The authorities promise additional 7,000 job places, while the project is already reportedly employing over 3000 Mozambican nationals. The stakeholders also say Mozambican companies will be involved in contracts worth over $4 billion, further stimulating the national economy. Portrayed as set to make a big difference for the country's economic welfare, the resumption of activities was made official by a meeting between Daniel Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies on Thursday, January 29. The project has faced numerous challenges, from security threats in the Cabo Delgado region to delays caused by the global pandemic to allegations of massive human right violations. The discovery of vast natural gas reserves off the coast of Mozambique has attracted billion-dollar investments, but even before the initial launch deadline of 2019, expectations of gas revenues had already prompted one of the most ambitious corruption schemes in Mozambique's postcolonial history. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

What is Known About Rubaya Mine Collapse? ❗️ More than 200 people were killed on Wednesday in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mines in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located. Rubaya, a mining town in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu province, sits atop some of the world’s most valuable coltan-bearing ground. Here is what is known 3 days after the tragedy: ➡️ More than 200 dead, one local official cited at least 227 confirmed dead. Reports include miners, children, and market women among the victims. ➡️ Local officials explained the collapse citing the rainy season and unstable ground. ➡️ Dozens of injured were taken to clinics in Rubaya, with some transfers toward Goma. Apart from the shocking death toll, the event is still out an outstanding one: ➡️ Rubaya is one of the most prominent examples of exploitation of Congolese resources by the AFC/M23 rebels. The complex has been under the control of M23 since 2024, and UN experts have even documented that the group taxes production and trade there, generating at least $800,000 per month. ➡️It produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components. Such unfortunate events occur on both sides of the frontline between Kigali and Kinshasa - for example, in November a similar mine collapse killed 32 miners in the southern DRC. The immediate reason is unreliability of makeshift pits and hand-dug, poorly supported tunnels where a single failure can cascade, particularly amid rainy seasons. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

Why So Scared? 🤔 ✊ Cornel Nangaa, the leader of the AFC/M23 rebel alliance, publicly declared that the strategic agreement between the DRC and the U.S. on access to minerals is deeply flawed and unconstitutional. 🔸What’s interesting about this is everything—from the tone to the timing. First, Nangaa was noticeably restrained in his wording—even articles here on the same issue sound more aggressive than his accusations of the deal’s shortcomings. 🔸Second, although the agreement was signed long ago and Congolese authorities have already made significant progress under it (with parliamentary ratification scheduled for March!), the rebels’ official condemnationhas only just been voiced. ⭐️ This generally corresponds to AFC/M23’s strategy, aiming not just to seize territory but to establish full-fledged governing institutions—if not over all of the DRC, then at least in its eastern regions. So, if Nangaa speaks too loudly about the illegality of handing over mineral assets, his plan to build a "legitimate DRC 2.0" can hardly expect support—or even non-interference—from Washington. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

🌐Struggle for the Iron Throne ⏱ There’s a joke that the width of an ancient Roman horse’s backside determined the width of the roads the Romans built in Britain, which in turn determined the gauge of U.S. railroads, limiting the size of rocket boosters that could be transported via them in the 20th century. Another legacy of Roman horses is the feud now unfolding between Ivanhoe Atlantic and ArcelorMittal overWest Africa’s iron. ⏩Yesterday Liberia ratified an agreement with the Luxembourg-based company ArcelorMittal, extending the company’s rights to the Tokadeh iron deposit until 2075. The agreement also secures ArcelorMittal’s access to the Yekepa-Buchanan railway. The company reportedly plans to quadruple its ore production. ⏩This aggressive staking of market is causing stress among competitors —especially the American company Ivanhoe Atlantic, which recently obtained permission to use the same railway to transport ore from Guinea. However, given ArcelorMittal’s expansion, the road will not be enough for both, experts say. ❗️ Unconfirmed rumours suggest these difficulties among others have already led to the resignation of the head of the American company few days ago. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow