The African mining rush

The Financial Post in Canada ran a story this weekend about mining in the African continent:

Despite a turbulent political environment, Africa is quickly earning a reputation as the place where mining gets done right. Unlike Canada, this is where mines can get permitted and built with breathtaking speed by entrepreneurs who rarely disappoint the market. A group of small, nimble companies like Equinox Minerals Ltd. and CIC Energy Corp. are developing remarkable projects in Africa in a fraction of the time it would take in Canada. Many of them trade in Toronto.

"In Africa you don't get the long permitting delays to get your environmental assessment through. There doesn't seems to be any issue getting drill rigs, unlike in Canada. There are good assay labs and good engineering support out of Johannesburg. It's all there," says Canadian Stephen Dattels, the entrepreneur who built African miner UraMin Inc. almost overnight and sold it for US$2.5-billion. "There's a reason mining companies are looking beyond North America."

I don't have any direct exposure to Africa. But the continent's prospects -- good and bad over time -- prove worthy of continued interest.