The Minerals Council on Thursday said South Africa’s mining industry is in talks with the government about allowing foreign miners to return to work, as output ramps up after the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Mines in South Africa, the world’s biggest producer of platinum and chrome and a major gold and diamond producer, have been allowed to run at full capacity since June 1 after a temporary halt since March when a nationwide lockdown began.

The industry body, the Minerals Council, said it had been requested by members to ask the Health Department to allow the return of foreign mineworkers, who make up about 10% of South Africa’s mining workforce.

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South Africa’s net foreign reserves increased to $45.531 billion in May from $45.470 billion in April, Reserve Bank data showed on Friday.

Gross reserves decreased to $52.769 billion from $53.003 billion. The forward position, representing the central bank’s unsettled or swap transactions, fell to $567 million from $592 million.

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South Africa’s rand re-ignited its rally early on Friday, spurred on by the European Central Bank’s larger-than-expected increases of its stimulus program, attracting investors looking for risk assets.

At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.38% firmer at 16.8450 per dollar after an overnight close of 16.9100.

The ECB increased its emergency bond purchase scheme by 600 billion euros, more than expected, to 1.35 trillion euros on Thursday, and extended the scheme to mid-2021, in the latest move by a global central bank to ease the economic blow of the coronavirus.

Economists at ETM Analytics said the sheer size of the monetary and fiscal support measures out of the developed world in light of the coronavirus shock has driven a risk-on frenzy as a global search for yield has led to financial spillovers into the emerging market space.

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The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) board on Thursday said it stood by an internal investigation that had cleared its president of improper conduct, but it would carry out an independent review of the report in the interest of due process.

The United States, AfDB’s second-largest shareholder, has demanded a new independent probe into the allegations, rejecting the bank’s investigation over reservations about the integrity of the bank’s process. Meanwhile, top shareholder Nigeria has voiced its support for Adesina.

In a statement, AfDB’s board of governors said it believed the bank’s ethics committee, which produced the report, had carried out its role correctly. But the board has nevertheless agreed to authorise a review.

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Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday said the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will now be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

The road project, awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria and Reynolds Construction Company Limited (RCC), at a sum of 167 billion naira, was earlier scheduled to be finished in 2021.

Fashola, in an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the delay was due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has slowed construction activities and affected government revenues.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is part of projects funded under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund.

Other projects under the fund include the Second Niger Bridge and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway

On Thursday, Mr. Fashola confirmed all three projects are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022.

Mr Fashola noted that while work was suspended during the coronavirus lockdown, earnest efforts were made to resume once the federal government started to lift restrictions.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the nomination of a former Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation.

The Cable reported on Thursday that Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, for the same position.

The election is scheduled to hold in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021 for a four-year term that would run from 2021 to 2025 after former Director-General of the organisation, Roberto Azevedo, stepped down a year to the end of his second term.

The letter seen by TheCable read that Nigeria is pleased to request the support of esteemed AU member states as well as permanent missions and embassies in Addis Ababa in favour of the candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala.

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The Department of Petroleum Resources has said companies, including their promoters, indebted to the Federal Government will not be allowed to participate in the newly launched bid round for marginal oilfields.

The DPR, in a document said applicants should demonstrate the ability to fully meet the objective of undertaking expeditious and efficient development of a marginal field.

it added the company shall provide evidence of the ability and willingness to pay the offered signature bonus, if successful.

The DPR said consideration would be given for host community/state participation, as well as a commitment to social project and/or proposal aimed at the socioeconomic development of the populace in the host community/state.

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Snap Inc said it would no longer promote U.S. President Donald Trump’s account in Snapchat’s Discover section, saying his incendiary comments last week made the account ineligible for the curated section where users explore new content.

The company in a statement said they will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover.

It added that Racial violence and injustice have no place in the society and they stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America. However, shares fell 2.4% after the announcement.

Snap said Trump’s Snapchat account, which consists mostly of campaign content and does not contain the informal rhetoric he regularly uses on his favored platform Twitter, will remain public and accessible to people who follow it or search for it.

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Ford Motor’s China ventures have reported year-on-year sales growth for May in a sign of how the world’s biggest auto market is continuing its recovery from coronavirus-induced lows.

The U.S. automaker’s Chongqing-based venture with Changan sold 23,491 vehicles in May, up 130% from a year earlier, it said on Thursday.

Jiangling Motors Corp (JMC) in which Ford owns a stake, said in a filing on Wednesday that it sold 29,008 vehicles last month, up 32% year on year.

Separately, Ford also said that sales of its luxury Lincoln brand in China reached 5,000 units last month, up 22%.

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Senate aides said U.S. senators will announce a bill this week expanding sanctions on Russia’s Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 project, targeting a pipeline Washington says will make Europe too reliant on Russian gas.

The Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act follows legislation signed by President Donald Trump last year, which prompted Swiss-Dutch company Allseas to halt undersea work.

Two Russian-owned pipe-laying vessels may now be used to finish the remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the project, led by state-run Gazprom.

The new legislation, spearheaded by Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, would expand sanctions to include penalties on parties involved in pipe-laying activities, not just laying pipes, and parties providing underwriting services, insurance or reinsurance for vessels.

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