Planned investments in African mining

Africa's mining industry is in the spotlight at the annual "Indaba" next week in Cape Town, a major conference that brings together mine executives, investors and policy makers from around the continent.

Following are some of the pledged and planned investments in the continent's mining sector, which is the scene of a renewed resource scramble.

VALE
Brazilian miner Vale SA said in June it planned to spend more than $12 billion on investments in Africa over the following five years.

Much of this will be focused in Mozambique, where the company said in November it had approved a $6 billion expansion of its Moatize coal project. This is equal to half of the country's GDP.

RIO TINTO
Rio has signalled it is looking to spend more heavily in Africa, despite not yet having made a profit on billions invested so far. Chief Executive Tom Albanese said last year Rio had "under-invested" in the continent.

Rio's main investments in Africa include the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, currently 50.35 percent owned by the miner. Rio approved an additional $1.3 billion of funding for the project in October last year, bringing the total it has spent to $3 billion. First shipment of ore is due by mid-2015.

Rio bought Mozambique-focused coal miner Riversdale in 2011 in a $2 billion deal.

ANGLO AMERICAN
Despite its growth outside Africa, the continent remains a major destination for Anglo's investment, with planned spending in platinum, diamonds, iron ore and thermal coal totalling $8 billion for projects - some only part-owned by Anglo - due to come to full production over the next decade and beyond. That is out of a total approved capital expenditure of $19 billion.

The largest investment is the planned $3 billion expansion of Jwaneng, the world's richest diamond mine, known as Cut 8. Jwaneng is owned by De Beers, soon to be majority-owned by Anglo, and the government of Botswana.

Anglo is expected to complete the $5.1 billion acquisition of the Oppenheimer family's shares later this year, handing it a majority stake in De Beers.

GLENCORE
The world's largest diversified commodities trader has investments in oil, copper and coal in Africa.

Glencore's key planned investments, detailed in its listing prospectus from last May, include the expansion of Mopani in Zambia, expected to total $740 million through 2015, the expansion of Katanga in Congo, with expenditure to total $1.3 billion over that period and more than $800 million in its growth in West African oil.

GOLD FIELDS
The world's fourth largest gold producer has a number of proposed expansions or projects in Africa but board approval is still required for some. They include:

South Deep (South Africa) - Expenditure between 2007 - 2015: around 9 billion rand ($1.14 billion); Damang Superpit (Ghana) - $500 million-$700 million (if proved feasible and approved by Board); Yanfolila (Mali) - $350 million-$450 million (if proved feasible and approved by Board).

FIRST QUANTUM
First Quantum has said it plans to spend at least $2 billion over the next three to five years as it aims to lift output at its Kansanshi mine in Zambia to about 400,000 tonnes of copper a year by the end of 2014 from about 230,000 tonnes in 2010.