Africa in Business: diamonds and gold

STORY: Here's what's made the business headlines in sub Saharan Africa this week.

1. Diamond company De Beers is confident of maintaining its long-standing partnership with Botswana, a company official said on Thursday (February 16).

President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Sunday threatened to walk away from talks on the extension of De Beers' mining rights in the country unless Botswana got a larger share of revenues.

2. Congo's state auditor has demanded an additional $17 billion of investments from a 2008 infrastructure-for minerals deal with Chinese investors, a report seen by Reuters has shown.

The deal is currently being renegotiated.

China's embassy in Congo said on Friday (February 17) it was shocked by the state auditor's report, which it said was "full of prejudice" and did not correspond with reality.

3. MTN Group will invest $1 billion in Ghana over the next five years, the mobile operator said on Wednesday (February 15).

That's after the government exempted MTN's Ghanaian unit from tax claims worth about $773 million.

4. South Africa's state-owned freight rail utility Transnet has resumed limited services on a key line linking it to trading partners across southern Africa after it was damaged by heavy rains last week.

The North East Corridor, which mostly moves chrome, ferrochrome, phosphate and magnetite, links South Africa to Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

5. And finally, Endeavour Mining has sold 200 kilograms of gold from its Mana mine in Burkina Faso to the West African country's government, the company said on Wednesday.

Endeavour is the biggest gold miner in Burkina Faso - which is funding a battle against a rampant jihadist insurgency.

Gold is a universal means of purchasing foreign currency to shore up reserves.