- A joint venture has been established in the Democratic Republic of Congo through an official contract signed by R&B singer Akon
- The deal revolves around the financing of a copper and cobalt mine
- Akon’s strike into the mining industry comes through his presidential term at a U.S-registered firm titled White Waterfall LLC
- Reports claim that White Waterfall has also paid a $2 million signing bonus along with involvement in the financing of a viable study of the Kimono reserve
White Waterfall represents the setup of a private equity fund. The website of the company claims that the project works towards investing in the mining companies which are not publicly traded. The president of the company is none other than the American-Senegalese singer of R&B, Akon.
The landmark deal cracked by White Waterfall LLC
Reuters, the conventionally popular news portal published a report announcing the finalised deal by White Waterfall. The underlying proposal is to capitalise a copper and cobalt mine through a joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is supposed to be ensued in collaboration with a state miner. The news has been let out from the source of contract that the mines ministry published on 14th December. The contextual space chosen for the investment by Akon remains a remarkable move. The Democratic Republic of Congo is proclaimed to be the top producer of copper of Africa. Moreover, it boasts of being the primary miner of cobalt in the world, a product specifically employed in electric car batteries.
(Source of the Reuters’s article: https://in.reuters.com/article/congo-mining-akon-idINKBN29B0EO)
Akon’s philanthropic and business ventures
The extremely popular singer has been a renowned nominee for the Grammys and has delivered hit numbers like “Smack That”, “Don’t Matter” and numerous more. Apart from his career in the respective artistic field of music, he has been venturing into various business as well as philanthropic projects in recent years. The common thing amongst all these ventures remains that they are all ventures panning across Africa. To name a few, he invested in a $6 billion futuristic city established in Senegal and launched a cryptocurrency personalised to his name, Akoin.
Akon’s eventual entry into the arena of the mining sector comes through to his U.S. registered firm, claims contracts issued by the mines ministry website. The contract dated 14th December and signed by Akon under his legal name Aliaune Thiam pledges on behalf of White Waterfall to pay a $2 million bonus for signing. It also commits to financing a feasibility study in the Haut Katanga province of the Kimono Reserve. Despite the published reports, Akon’s media team, the company itself as well as the director-general of SODIMICO state miner avoided responding to the plea for a direct comment.
Mr. Pratik chadhokar is an Indian Forex, Cryptocurrencies and Financial Market Advisor and analyst with a background in IT and Financial market Strategist. He specialises in market strategies and technical analysis and has spent over a year as a financial markets contributor and observer. He possesses strong technical analytical skills and is well known for his entertaining and informative analysis of the Financial markets.