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Stratex International, the AIM-listed gold miner, said yesterday that it would use the fund from the sale of shares to Antofagasta, the FTSE100 copper mining company, to accelerate its gold exploration activities in Ethiopia.

Antofagasta, the FTSE100 copper mining company, is buying a stake of almost three per cent in Stratex International via a private placing.

Shares in Stratex were trading higher by 0.6 per cent at 7.8 pence each in mid-afternoon trading yesterday. The funds raised amounted to £800,000.

The Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) said that 18 local and international companies had responded to the tender for feasibility study to erect a steel mill in Shire, Tigray Regional State.

The companies which expressed interest in conducting feasibility study include TATA, the Indian consultancy service, and Mastell, a Chinse consultant.

The bids from the 18 companies were scheduled to be technically and financially evaluated yesterday.

The Ethiopian Airlines is going to be fully integrated into Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance, in October. The process took over a year and 6.9 million dollars which has not been paid in full yet.

The airlines had to fulfil 83 criteria, including IT compliance, to earn full membership of the alliance.
Ethiopian is the third African airline to join the Star Alliance after South African Air (SAA) and Egypt Air.

Ethiopian uses SABER booking system, which needed to be connected with the central system of the Star Alliance headquarters, and with those of the 29 member carriers.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) approved last Tuesday a 1.52 billion birr loan to Habesha Cement.

The company had sought from the bank 70 percent of the fund it need for setting up a cement factory in the country.

The bank is currently drafting the loan agreement and it is expected that the parties will sign the deal next week.

The annual production capacity of Habesha’s first factory is projected to be 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year, according to Mesfin Abi, CEO of the company.

Areas of interest include real estate, mining, manufacturing, healthcare and agro-industry.

Ethiopians living in the United States are going to discuss the existing investment opportunities in Ethiopia at a conference to be held in Washington DC.

The conference, under the theme "Collaborative Investing by the Diaspora", is scheduled to take place on Saturday October 8 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.  

The conference is a half a day U.S. private-sector-led initiative. The organisers expect about 300 people to attend the meeting.

The Ethiopian Airlines said it had changed its plan to purchase Bombardier aircraft.

It was reported last week that the airlines was holding talks with representatives of Bombardier, the Canadian airframer, for the purchase of additional Q400 aircraft which are known for less emission and noise.

Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian said that after a series of managerial meetings the airlines had decided to conduct a market study to determine what type of aircraft it needs to buy and how many.

A centre of excellence for freight logistics, Ethiolog, was established yesterday at the Addis Ababa University.

The centre will make the freight transport and logistics efficient and cost effective, Getachew Mengiste, Minister of State for Transport, said.

Ethiolog is expected to create a joint forum for higher learning institutions, government offices and the private sector to work together. And it will be entrusted with conducting research to address problems in the transport sector.

Allana Potash announced yesterday that it intersected high-grade potash mineralization in hole DK-11-27 on its 154,000-hectare property in the Nequen province of Ethiopia.

Assays from this hole returned 37.7 percent potassium chloride, or potash, over 3.45 metres at a depth of 159.9 metres. It also intersected 17.41 percent potash over 13.0 metres at a depth of 163.35 metres, and at a depth of 259.23 metres, the hole intersected 7.67 metres grading 23.05 percent potash.

Ethiopian Potash Corp. announced that it had completed nine holes, and was currently drilling the tenth hole of its ongoing exploration program.

The company said that all of the holes had intersected the regional Danakil potash formation, and all holes intersected potash mineralization.

The holes were drilled along the western edge of the Danakil and targeted the on-strike continuation of the Musley potash deposit about 10 km south of the company's SW discovery area.

Two Indian leather development institutions said they were determined to make Ethiopia one of the top 10 countries in the world in shoe and leather manufacturing in three to five years.

Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Indian government institutions, are going to work with the Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute (ELIDI).

The Indian institutions said they would transfer technology and help accelerate the growth of earnings from Ethiopia's leather and leather products export.