A New Resource District is Being Born Here

It's a common conception there are no big resource discoveries left to be had.

And certainly not entirely new resource-rich districts.

But news from one emerging region the last few weeks suggests differently. Telling us that a whole new realm of potential may be opening up here.

In East Africa.

Of course, mineral and petroleum endowment here isn't a secret. We've known for decades that Africa's "other coast" had potential.

But the infrastructure and investor interest simply wasn't there to spur development. Until recently.

A surge of activity here is now yielding big finds. Such as recent drilling by BG Group in offshore Tanzania. Which announcements last week suggest may have found up to a trillion cubic feet of new gas reserves.

Even a few years ago, this mega-find would have been a failure. With a lacking market for gas here making the discovery essentially worthless.

But that's changed. Thanks to a push for LNG development by majors like BG. As well as a growing network of gas pipelines pushing northward from South Africa.

At the same time, the region is preparing to up its production of another commodity: coal.

Officials in Mozambique said last week they expect to open the brand new coal port of Nacala-a-Velha by this December. Upping the nation's export capacity by 18 million tonnes yearly.

That's a big step forward for Mozambique's massive coal reserves. Which up until now have seen their development constrained by under-built infrastructure.

All of which suggests the global resource sector is in the process of (re-)discovering this rich part of the world. A sensible move given its prime position in servicing key Asian markets.

Watch for more opportunities here coming down the pipe.

Here's to the right coast,

By Dave Forest