Marula Mining taps PwC for African expansion
A UK-listed mining firm has tapped consultants from PwC for a projects spanning the continent of Africa. PwC will provide advisory services, as Marula Mining looks to expand its footprint across the region.
Listed in London, Marula Mining is an African-focused battery metals investment and exploration company and has interests in several mine projects across the continent. These include the Blesberg Lithium and Tantalum Mine in South Africa, the Nkombwa Hill Project in Zambia, and Kinusi Copper mine and Bagamoyo Graphite Project in Tanzania.
As demand rises for raw materials used in technology rise, amid the global energy transition, Marula is now looking to expand into East Africa, as well as other markets across the region. To help with this undertaking, Marula has hired consultants from PwC’s Kenyan firm, to provide a range of advisory services including acquisitions in the regional market.
PwC is expected to provide the company with the transaction, legal and tax advisory services to support its growth and mine development activities in the regional market. The scope of PwC’s work also includes transaction-specific work, which will include potential new acquisition and investment opportunities and also dual listings of the company’s shares on regional stock exchanges. As demand for battery metals-focused projects rises, Marula will continue to build and expand its interests in other high-quality projects in Africa, supported by PwC.
“The appointment is considered important to support the company’s increased activities and new mine acquisition and project development work underway in East Africa,” a statement from Marula Mining said. “PwC Kenya will assist in optimising the company’s corporate structure throughout Africa and will assist with legal and tax advisory services.”
One study from The Business Research Company contended that the global mining market size is expected to grow from $1.84 trillion in 2021 to $3.36 trillion by 2026. The boom is partially the result of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has jeopardised extraction operations across the region. At the same time, with rising demand for materials used for things like electric vehicle batteries, firms are looking to bring down production costs by boosting supply for things like lithium. This is not without issue, however – with research from PwC having previously noted widespread concerns as to whether the industry “can responsibly create sustainable value”.
According to research from McKinsey & Company, the global mining industry’s scope 1 and scope 2 emissions alone account for as much as 7% of greenhouse gas emissions – meaning the ramping up of the industry could carry dire environmental consequences globally. Across Africa, meanwhile, mining also has major repercussions for the local environment. As well as being water-intensive in areas regularly stricken by drought, the process used to extract materials such as uranium regularly uses fossil water tables (ancient body of water contained in some undisturbed space, typically underground) which people and animals rely upon to survive the dry season – leaving them depleted and contaminated.
