Official newsletter of the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Authority presenting news, views, and announcements impacting the Lobito Corridor.

Welcome to Thoughts on the Corridor, the official newsletter of the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Authority and section of Afrika Vantage, your insider's guide to investing and doing business on the African continent.

📋 Sign up for all three here.

🤝🏻 Help us spread the word by engaging on social media and sharing and opening our emails.

Lobito Corridor News

📰 The EU Has Announced New Investment in Angola’s Lobito Corridor

The European Union says it will invest an additional 76.5 million euros (US$79.68 million) in the Lobito Corridor. The Lobito Corridor marks the first major attempt by Western powers to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese global infrastructure development strategy credited with investments in more than 150 countries since 2013… Read More

🎦 AFC Raises $500 Million to Fund Lobito Corridor and More

[video for subscribers only]

📰 Accessing Africa’s Critical Raw Material

The GIS Report provides a good overview of the Lobito Corridor including the history, why it matters, and a scenario analysis… Read More

📰 Trump Aims to Turn DFC Into “Greatest SWF of Them All”

The Trump-created Development Finance Corporation is largely a dysfunctional and ineffective institution in its present state. Trump plans to reform it and create “the greatest sovereign wealth fund of them all” which could be great news for the Lobito Corridor… Read More

📸 Africa’s Share of Critical Energy Minerals [Chart]

📰 Biden’s Offered to Furter Expand Lobito Through Eastern DRC to End Conflict

“We had proposed to both sides that if we could get to stabilization in eastern DRC, we could work on developing a spur from the Lobito Corridor up through eastern DRC… We tried to offer positive incentives. A genuine framework -- fundamentally negotiated by the parties -- exists, and at the moment, Rwanda seems to have walked away," Molly Phee, the former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told AFP in an interview ahead of her exit… Read More

📰 Pensana Closes $160 Million Loan Facility

UK-based Pensana owns Angola’s Longonjo rare earth mine, located along the Lobito Corridor. The company recently secured a $120 million loan facility, led by Absa Bank and supported by South Africa's export credit agency, to expand its operations.… Read More

📸 Smart Phone Minerals

📰 Saudi Arabia Vows to be ‘Fast and Furious’ in Mining as it Reveals $100 Billion Investment

Investment in critical minerals mining and processing must be happening “as fast and furious as possible” in Saudi Arabia, its energy minister said at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.… Read More

📰 Angola and France to Sign €430m in Contracts During Lourenço State Visit

France isn’t giving up on Africa having just signed several agreements with Angola to help it diversify its economy away from mainly oil and gas… Read More

📰 Trump 2.0 Won’t Reverse Critical Minerals Push

It was then-President Trump who in 2020 declared the country's "undue reliance" on "foreign adversaries" for critical minerals a national emergency. Trump in his second presidency is unlikely to reverse the drive to metallic self-sufficiency. He may even prove to be an accelerator..… Read More

📰 Zambia Looks to UAE and Saudi For Copper Expansion

Zambia seeks to reduce its reliance on China by attracting investment from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to boost copper production. The country aims to increase output to over 1 million tons in 2025, up from 720,000 tons in 2024.… Read More

📰 Mineral Processing: What Can Africa Learn from Indonesia?

Indonesia tripled its investment in local mineral processing between 2019 and 2022. In contrast, Africa attracted only 2.8% of the global foreign direct investment (FDI) for critical minerals processing from 2019 to 2023, despite holding 30% of the world's reserves… Read More