Perhaps more than any change currently underway in Africa, the continent’s ongoing massive investments in developing the infrastructure's economic enablers point to a highly prosperous and brighter future. The pace of progress is furious.

Perhaps more than any change currently underway in Africa, the continent’s ongoing massive investments in developing the infrastructure's economic enablers point to a highly prosperous and brighter future. The pace of progress is furious.

The Austrian writer Karl Kraus once famously quipped: “The Streets of Vienna Are Paved with Culture, the Streets of Other Cities with Asphalt”. Indeed, few cities - if any - can boast of the city’s cultural legacy, which was shaped by the likes of Mozart, Liszt and Beethoven. Despite the city’s notable cultural heritage, it has steadfastly refused to become a museum to history, it has kept up with the times as it remains one of Europe’s major capitals.

It has been a little over a decade since commercial mining began at the Canadian Malartic Mine in northwestern Quebec, Canada. With production of over 55,000 tonnes per day, the mine is not only the largest in Canada but one of the largest in the world. In 2020, however, the partnership behind the mine announced that it was going to begin construction of surface infrastructure and an underground exploration ramp, in a project known as the Odyssey project.

If the 21st century does turn out to be the African century as many have claimed, agriculture will have a central part to play in the story. The importance of the sector has been underlined over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic when output and prices have continued to grow. In South Africa, where diversified agricultural firm/agribusiness Senwes is based, agriculture was the only sector of the country’s economy which grew over the past two years.

It has been a decade since Business Excellence first profiled Perseus Mining’s operations in Ghana. At that time, its first mine, the Edikan gold mine, was just about to begin commercial production. In the intervening period, the mine has produced over 2 million ounces of gold and based on current ore reserves, it is expected to recover a further 1.3 million ounces of gold over its remaining life, estimated to be nearly six years.

Anyone who has read about World War I in any depth will be familiar with the Battle of Çanakkale - also known as the Gallipoli Campaign. When British and French forces attacked Istanbul in an attempt to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, they got quite a lot more than they bargained for. The Turkish resistance was so mighty that it became encapsulated in the now common Turkish phrase: “Çanakkale is impassable.” And now, over a century later, it gives its name to a megaproject.