Business
Burkina Faso & Ivory Coast will hand control of railway to mining firm
West African Capital
The source said the contract for Bollore’s Sitarail unit to provide freight and passenger services on the Abidjan-Ouagadougou line runs until 2035. The new operator will be in charge only of manganese shipments from the mine, the source said.
The prime minister said that Pan African Minerals, which is controlled by Romanian-British entrepreneur Frank Timis, was expected to start production at its manganese mine in 2017. Furthermore, an extension of the rail link from Ougadougou to Tambao should be completed by 2017 in time for the start of production, he added.
The Tambao mine has raised its estimate of reserves to a total of 100 million tonnes of manganese and will produce 5 million tonnes per year, Tiao said. The extension of the Abidjan-Ougadougou railway is part of ambitious regional plans to create a rail network that links several capitals in West Africa.
According to the government of Niger, technical studies are underway to extend the planned line from Kaya to Niger’s capital Niamey. The study is due to be completed in March 2014. Studies are also currently underway to extend an existing line in Benin, which runs from the port of Cotonou to the town of Parakou, as far as Niamey.
Source: The Africa Report
