Patrick Radden Keefe: How an Israeli Billionaire Gained Control of One of Africa’s Most Valuable Mines : The New Yorker

Patrick Radden Keefe: How an Israeli Billionaire Gained Control of One of Africa’s Most Valuable Mines : The New Yorker: As wealthy countries confront the prospect of rapidly depleting natural resources, they are turning, increasingly, to Africa, where oil and minerals worth trillions of dollars remain trapped in the ground. By one estimate, the continent holds thirty per cent of the world’s mineral reserves. Paul Collier, who runs the Center for the Study of African Economies, at Oxford, has suggested that “a new scramble for Africa” is under way. Bilateral trade between China and Africa, which in 2000 stood at ten billion dollars, is projected to top two hundred billion dollars this year. The U.S. now imports more oil from Africa than from the Persian Gulf.