Madagascar Development

Dakar, Senegal, 05/31 - The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern that Olivier Péguy, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI) and several other international news organisations, has been forced to leave Madagascar after the government refused to renew his work permit. Péguy, who had been reporting from Madagascar for four years, but had to leave Sunday, told CPJ that no explanation was given for the non-renewal of his work permit. CPJ in an open letter to President Marc Ravalomanana, urged him to make public the reasons for not renewing Péguy`s work permit, adding: "If the permit was withheld because of Péguy`s critical reporting, we urge your government to reconsider and issue a renewal immediately." The New York-based press freedom watchdog also expressed concern at the prison sentences given to journalists working for "La Gazette de la Grande Ile," a private daily based in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo. It said journalists work...

SECRETARY RICE: Yes, absolutely. The Millennium Challenge Account was announced by the President a couple of years ago and it was a part of something that was developing which came to be known as the Monterrey Consensus on Development Assistance. It essentially went this way, that there has been a lot of development assistance over the last decades that has gone to waste. And it has gone to waste because governments to whom it was given spent it badly, spent it in corrupt fashion and ended up with huge debt burdens but nothing really for their people. And in many places, people got poorer, not better. The President believes that the key to spending development assistance well is to have governments that govern justly, govern transparently, that fight corruption, that have open economies, that demonstrate a commitment to the education of their people and to the health of their people. And that development assistance needs to go to those countries that are demonstrating that. So the Mill...

Shares in Canadian mining firm Dynatec Corp. rose 18 cents or 14.75 per cent to $1.40 after it announced a joint venture with South African miner Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. on the Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar. Canadian Press via Yahoo! News Thu, 26 May 2005 1:28 PM PDT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Implats plans to take a stake in Dynatec Corp.'s Ambatovy nickel and cobalt project in Madagascar by funding a portion of the development costs of the large venture, the companies said on Thursday. The partners will initially each own half of the $2.25 billion project on the lush Indian Ocean island, but this will be cut to 37.5 percent apiece because of the planned sale of a 25 percent stake to a third shareholder. "Discussions are currently advanced with prospective third partners," Implats and Dynatec said, adding that the new participant was likely to be a nickel consumer. Dynatec, a small Toronto-based mining firm, has been looking for partners to help finance the early-stage project, which has the potential to produce 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 tonnes of cobalt per year at a low cost. Nickel, a shiny, silvery metal used mostly to make stainless steel, has been in short supply for the past two years leading investors...

WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) - Philippine port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc is the winning bidder to manage Madagascar's main port, the World Bank's private-sector lending arm said on Thursday. Four large companies bid for the 20-year concession to operate and develop the container terminal at the eastern port of Toamasina in Madagascar, in a process overseen by the International Finance Corp's Advisory Services. "The concession has been awarded to ICTSI. It is not signed yet but they are the official winner of the bid," the IFC's director for Advisory Services, Bernard Sheahan, told Reuters. Reuters via Yahoo! Asia News Thu, 26 May 2005 6:51 AM PDT

PAN AFRICAN MINING CORP. (the "Company") is pleased to announce the resumption of its formal diamond exploration program in the field in Madagascar, following a brief hiatus during the wet season. The current program, which represents Phase 2 of the Company's comprehensive diamond exploration program, is designed to follow up on the encouraging results achieved during Phase 1 stream sampling in certain key areas of Madagascar deemed to be most prospective, as well as to explore certain other new areas also deemed to be prospective. The primary objective of this program is the discovery of kimberlitic or lamproitic diamond sources. As a secondary objective, the Company will investigate the possibility of locating rich alluvial deposits and commercial deposits of other precious stones. Through its operating subsidiary, PAM Madagascar Sarl, the Company holds 10-year research permits covering in excess of 3000 sq. km. in areas deemed prospective for diamond exploration in var...

GIA's traveling Extension program, which provides gemological training to students globally, will hold summer classes in Florida and Madagascar. To meet increased demand, additional GIA’s Diamond Grading classes are schedule in Fort Lauderdale, June 13–17. The class helps Distance Education students fulfill the requirements for GIA’s Graduate Gemologist diploma program, but anyone interested in learning more about the fascinating world of diamonds is invited to enroll. GIA Extension classes will also reach into southern Africa, with three core gemology classes to be taught in the gem-rich island nation of Madagascar. Hosted by the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, all three classes will be held in the capital city of Antananarivo. Colored Stone Grading will take place June 29–July 1, Gem Identification will be held July 4–8, and Diamond Grading is set for July 11–15. To enroll in the Fort Lauderdale Extension class, or other GIA classes and seminars held in the U.S., call 800...

- PAN AFRICAN MINING CORP. (the "Company") announced today key results of Phase I exploration core drilling on its Mountain of Gold Project. This project is located in the Dabolava region of the Central-West Plateau of Madagascar. The Company's license in this region encompasses approximately 1825 sq. km. situated 125 air miles west- southwest of the capital city of Antananarivo, in the provinces of Toliary and Antananarivo. The 2,000 meter drilling program tested reconnaissance level targets suggested by previous field mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical interpretation, and shallow trenching along the more than 10 kilometer, east-west Mountain of Gold shear system ("MOGS zone") which hosts historic French colonial as well as past and present Malagasy artisanal workings along most of its length. Targeting information included surface evidence of several large gold bearing east-west striking quartz veins exposed through shallow mining by French interests d...

ANTANANARIVO – Madagascar's rice output has increased despite flood damage to fields this year, and falling prices are reducing the risk of more unrest over living costs, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday. The huge Indian Ocean island off southeast Africa suffered soaring inflation for basic commodities in 2004, with the price of rice, the main staple, nearly quadrupling and triggering protests in the capital Antananarivo. Analysts blamed the price increases on a combination of cyclone damage to crops, an increase in petrol prices that pushed up transport costs and a halving in the value of the currency against the dollar during the course of last year. 'There is no risk of a shortage of rice production this year,' Agriculture Minister Harison Randriarimanana told Reuters. 'We expect production to increase by at least 13 percent...from last year's 3.0 million tons to 3.4 million tons. That's in spite of the flooding earlier in the year.' In March fl...