African Wealth Briefing — Sun., May 3, 2026

Good morning from Billionaires.Africa.

Here is a brief on what we published yesterday.

The biggest story of the week landed quietly on Friday: Sumitomo, after twenty years and three billion dollars sunk, is paying $418 million to leave the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar. The buyer is a Jersey-registered consortium led by former Glencore nickel head Jason Kluk and Sandile Zungu's investment firm Zico, and the deal hands one of the world's largest nickel laterite operations to a South African-anchored vehicle on terms that reflect just how much pain Sumitomo absorbed before walking away. Whether Kluk and Zungu can extract value where Sumitomo could not depends on operational execution at a technically complex facility and on the durability of the nickel price recovery — both open questions. But the price they are paying, or more precisely the price Sumitomo is paying them to take it on, suggests the buyers believe the downside is already baked in.

In Ghana, the Mahama story moved another step closer to its political payoff. Ibrahim Mahama's Damang Gold Mine, the asset Engineers and Planners took over from Gold Fields just weeks ago, delivered its first 110 kilograms of gold output to the Ghana Gold Board on Thursday — all of it, sold straight into the Bank of Ghana's reserve programme. Roughly $11.8 million at current prices. GoldBod chief executive Sammy Gyamfi used the handover ceremony to call out other major miners for not doing the same. The political symbolism is unmistakable: Mahama is the brother of the sitting president, and his mine is now being held up as the model the government wants every other operator to follow.

And the most notable corporate denial of the week: the Dangote Group issued a sharp public statement on Saturday rejecting a viral X post that claimed Aliko Dangote had distanced himself from Tony Elumelu over a $20 million pledge that Elumelu allegedly walked back during the refinery's construction. Dangote Group spokesperson Anthony Chiejina called the post "false, malicious, and baseless," denied the underlying claim that the refinery was financed through personal loans from friends, confirmed that Dangote and Elumelu maintain a "longstanding and cordial relationship," and warned of legal action against anyone spreading the AI-generated fabrications now circulating with Dangote's name and likeness. The denial lands days after Elumelu authored Dangote's TIME100 profile.

Top Stories

South African billionaire Sandile Zungu and ex-Glencore trader Jason Kluk to take over Sumitomo's failed Madagascar nickel mine Former Glencore nickel head Jason Kluk and South Africa's Sandile Zungu are buying Sumitomo's stake in Madagascar's Ambatovy mine as the Japanese trading house books a $445 million exit loss on twenty years of cumulative pain.

Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama's Damang Mine delivers its first 110 kilograms of gold directly to Ghana's central bank Damang Gold Mines Limited, owned by Ibrahim Mahama, has sold its entire first gold output of 110 kilograms — roughly $11.8 million at current prices — to Ghana's GoldBod for transfer to the Bank of Ghana's reserves.

Dangote Group calls reports of rift with Tony Elumelu false and malicious The Dangote Group has dismissed reports of a falling-out between Aliko Dangote and UBA chairman Tony Elumelu as false and legally actionable, with spokesperson Anthony Chiejina warning of legal action against anyone spreading the AI-generated fabrications.

Discovery founder Adrian Gore joins Business Leadership South Africa board as Chairman Adrian Gore, founder and CEO of Discovery, has been appointed Chairman of BLSA's new board, taking over from outgoing chair Nonkululeko Nyembezi at the start of a new three-year cycle.

Nigerian tycoon Wale Babalakin writes off a N132 billion airport debt and hands back MMA1 to the government Wale Babalakin's Bi-Courtney has written off a N132 billion judgment debt and returned MMA1 to the federal government, ending a twenty-year dispute over the operating economics of Lagos's private MMA2 terminal.

South Africa's Mining BEE has created 46 billionaires whose identities the public does not know A new analysis published by Politicsweb, written by William Saunderson-Meyer, argues that South Africa's mining BEE programme has produced at least 46 billionaires whose names and accumulated wealth remain hidden from public view.

Residents of Jamestown march against a mayor who didn't show up to collect their petition The Jamestown Action Group marched on May 1 against the Stellenbosch municipality over gentrification and a mayor who failed to receive their formally submitted memorandum.

Also published yesterday for Insider, Executive and Elite subscribers:

→ Insider Report: Nigeria's Palm Oil Duopoly Posts Record Quarter as a Belgian Empire Quietly Becomes Nigerian Presco's profit jumped 57.4% to N178 billion and Okomu Oil grew Q1 to N34 billion, lifting the combined market cap of Nigeria's protected palm oil duopoly past $2.7 billion — and one of the two has just become Nigerian-controlled after 33 years of Belgian rule.