News

March 12, 2008

Life’s On The Up In Mozambique, And Baobab Resources Looks Well Positioned To Keep The Good Times Going

By Alastair Ford

Approximately half a lifetime ago for the average Brit, and more than a lifetime ago for the average Zimbabwean, the Manica province of Mozambique was swarming with Frelimo fighters lobbing mortars across the border into the global pariah that was then Rhodesia. Now and again the Rhodesians and their Renamo allies would hit back with punitive raids. Now, it’s a big old argument whether life is better or worse on the side of the border that Frelimo was bombarding, but things certainly have changed for the better in Mozambique since then. The war, which lingered on in Mozambique for several years after the Rhodesians got the shove, was one major reason why not much mining exploration or development work has been done in Manica over the last thirty years or so.

But the other, and the one John Crowe of Mozambique-focused Baobab Resources points to when asked, is that the Portuguese originally went there to trade for gold, rather than to mine for it. That cultural outlook has somewhat stuck with the Mozambicans, even after the somewhat precipitous departure of the Portuguese in 1974.

Fast forward to 2008, though, and following several years of strong metals prices, even the Mozambicans are taking notice of the potential benefits of foreign...