Lake Natron project

Just to keep everyone informed.

This potential nightmare will not go away until the site / project is shown to be uneconomical. TATA withdrew because of this. They know from their experience at Lake Magadi where they have recently doubled output which still leaves them many thousands of years of recoverable deposit.

This soda ash project is a major part of justifying the grand scheme to develop the "northern corridor" essentially this is a link between the new proposed "Tanga Port" and Uganda (to give them a political alternative to Mombasa) and Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and such potential projects as the Kibanga Nickel Mine and the bauxite deposit in the Usambaras. This grand project requires huge amounts of capital to rebuild the rail and road links to Arusha and to extend them to Lake Victoria. That there already exists a greatly under utilised rail link to Mwanza from Dar with easy access to Port Bell across the lake is well understood by any potential western donors but of course the Chinese and others will have their own agendas so a careful watch is required by all concerned.

mandeleo tu but in which direction one often asks.

Neil