Opens Niobium mines to make them too
Angola is to build out its telecoms infrastructure with the construction of more satellites and adding more elements to the framework, president João Lourenço has said. Meanwhile, Chinese owned Sociedade Niobonga is to mine the minerals needed for satellites and batteries in South West Angola, with a target to find and extract 19 million tonnes of Niobium from hundreds of millions of tonnes of Angolan earth.
After inaugurating a new Satellite Control and Mission Centre in Funda, in Luanda province, Lourenço reaffirmed the “extreme importance” of telecoms projects and guaranteed that “financial capacity will be found” to ensure they go ahead. “This centre can host up to three satellites; the other two will have to be acquired over time, it is a question of programming,” Lourenço told Macao News. “If there is no capacity today, there will be tomorrow. What counts is the intention to complete the project, it is not complete and we have assumed the commitment to complete it no matter how long it takes.”
Lourenço said a fibre optic technology commitment had already been made that could link Angola to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. The recent launch of Angosat-2 and its entry into operation gives Angola access to all options. “We will improve our telecommunications, the media, voice and imaging will also be improved, and agriculture and science in general and education will benefit from this important project,” said Lourenço.
In October 2022, Angola successfully launched Angosat-2, a satellite manufactured in Russia, from Kazakhstan. It was the second device built for Angola, after the first, Angosat-1, failed in December 2017. The Satellite Control and Mission Centre was built over an area of 6,617 square metres and has 47 compartments equipped with comms and computing resources, with the capacity to ensure satellite tracking, monitoring and exploration, according to Angola’s national news agency Angop.
Meanwhile a Chinese-owned company is set to extract 19 million tonnes of the rare minerals used in the manufacture of spaceships, missiles and turbines, says Macao News. The project to mine Niobium in Angola is expected to generate 500 jobs in southwestern Angola. Niobium is one of the world’s rarest and most valuable minerals, according to José Grande, deputy director of Sociedade Niobonga – Comércio Geral, the Chinese-owned company that holds the exploration rights. Niobonga invested around $100 million two years ago to start exploration work in Huíla province.
In the initial phase of prospecting, around 200 direct jobs were created and residences were built for 499 workers’ families. The niobium reserve, which is spread over an area of 443.53 square kilometres, is estimated at around 19 million tonnes. At current prices, niobium sells for $45,000 per tonne. Angola exports most of it niobium to China.