Endeavour Magazine November 2023

NOVEMBER 2023 www.littlegatepublishing.com

COSTA FARMS Passionate about Plants

INGENIO

R.I.K.

PORT OF GREATER

SERVICES LTD.

BATON ROUGE

MAGDALENA

The Bookshop of Choice

Strategically Located Cargo Handling

Sweet Energy

UK £4.95 CAN $7.95 USA $7.95 EUR €5.95 SA ZAR 69.00

Inspired by YOUR SUCCESS

The proud guardian of Sudan’s substantial gold resources, Ariab Mining Company Ltd is targeting portfolio diversification in conjunction with international investors.

As the mineral-rich republic’s leading operator in gold exploration and exploitation, the ambitious company is seeking to dig deeper and unlock additional value in several existing mines and highly prospective exploration tenements.

With the goal of achieving long-term value that is strategic, significant, and sustainable, the state-owned firm is on a quest to increase technology acquisition to develop a world-class project pipeline. The forward-thinking enterprise is adopting winning strategies, transforming operational performance and delivering step-change improvements throughout the value chain – from strategy to capital productivity and to developing skills in local communities. With Sudan introducing investment laws that match international standards, now is the ideal time for intelligent investors to bring knowledge and technology to achieve lucrative rewards.

Ariab Mining Company LTD Al Baladia St. corner with Osman Digna St. Block no 10/11 H- Building N. 1 Khartoum East, Sudan T: +249 8377 0127 - 8374 2133 | F: +249 1 8377 0404 | E: public@ariabmining.com

Heads of Departments Editor-in-Chief Carley Fallows editor@littlegatepublishing.com

Editor’s Note

Space Manager Emlyn Freeman emlynfreeman@littlegatepublishing.com

Welcome back to Endeavour Magazine!

Editorial Manager Andrew Williams andrew@littlegatepublishing.com

This month in Endeavour Magazine we celebrate some crucial players across the tourism and leisure, agriculture, mining, shipping, and energy industries – to name just a few!

We start off strong with a great interview with R.I.K. Services which is bringing a diverse and affordable range of literature and supplies to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. We got the chance to speak to Mr Jeremy Chaitoo, Inventory Analysis at R.I.K. Services who told us about the challenges facing the industry and how the company continues to overcome them.

We also got the chance to catch up with The Victoria Falls Hotel as they celebrate their 120-year anniversary. We got a deep dive into the history of the hotel and got some crucial updates from Farai Chima, General Manager at The Victoria Falls Hotel, who told us about the current and upcoming refurbishment plans to take the hotel into its next century of operations.

We also look at some key agricultural companies such as Costa Farms and Sol Melons which are providing their customers with top-quality plants and produce which is carefully delivered directly from farms to stores. Following on from this we look at some key mining operations which are developing regions, providing crucial education, and producing vital resources to take the world towards the future of sustainable mining.

Once again, we are thrilled to celebrate all of these companies and look forward to seeing how they all continue to develop across their respective industries as we look towards the new year.

Commercial Manager James Hamilton james@littlegatepublishing.com Lead Designer Alina Sandu Research Kristina Palmer-Holt Editorial Research Amber Winterburn Corporate Director Anthony Letchumaman anthonyl@littlegatepublishing.com Founder and CEO Stephen Warman stevewarman@littlegatepublishing.com For enquiries or subscriptions contact info@littlegatepublishing.com +44 1603 296 100 ENDEAVOUR MAGAZINE is published

by Littlegate Publishing LTD which is a Registered Company in the United Kingdom.

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Littlegate Publishing Ltd does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

by Carley Fallows

Copyright© Littlegate Publishing Ltd

Endeavour Magazine | 3

Features 12 R.I.K. Services Ltd.

The Bookshop of Choice

18 Newmont Corporation

World Leading Gold Producer

28 World Oil Tanzania Ltd.

Fuelling Tanzania’s Petroleum Industry s

36 PSA Singapore

Global Cargo Connectors

42 Ingenio Magdalena

Sweet Energy

50 Port of Greater Baton Rouge

Strategically Located Cargo Handling

56 Victoria Falls Hotel

120 years as Africa’s Best Known Hospitality Venue

62 MovieTowne

Excelling in Entertainment

68 Sol Melons

Empowering Communities

74 Costa Farms

Passionate about Plants

82 OK Tedi Mining Limited

Mining for Papua New Guinea’s Future

88 Kamloops Exploration Group

Investing in Mining Education

92 Vanadium Resources Limited Ingenio Magdalena 4 | Endeavour Magazine

Leading Vanadium Producers

Articles 6

Business Headlines

Asia/Oceania Africa Americas Middle East Europe

48 Amazing World

Celebrating the Souls of the Dead: El Día De Los Muertos

60 Environment

Eden Reforestation Projects: Community Lead Success

Vanadium Resources Limited Endeavour Magazine | 5

Business Headlines

Asia/Oceania Electric Car Maker Rivalling Tesla BYD, or Build Your Dreams, is a Chinese electric car manufacturer which is now ahead of Tesla in quarterly production. BYD began as a battery company that later made the switch to making electric vehicles. In the early 2000s’, Beijing officials introduced subsidies and tax breaks as the government prioritised renewable energy products which saw BYD take off. Today, China dominates global electric vehicle production with BYD being a significant factor in this.

According to the BBC, analysts say BYD owes its growth to its original business in batteries, because these are the most expensive components of Electric vehicles, therefore, making them in-house saves the company lots of money. Even Tesla relies on third-party manufacturers for batteries. Whilst BYD is looking to take on some of the biggest names in the electric vehicle market, today, Tesla is still the largest exporter of China-made electric vehicles and the second-biggest seller of electric vehicles in the country too.

E-Bike Battery Explodes in Sydney Hostel Footage has been released by authorities in Sydney capturing the moment a lithium-ion battery exploded inside a hostel in Sydney. The hostel was located in Darlinghurst, and the hallway camera outside of the room caught a giant fireball exploding out of the room as the two backpackers staying in the room quickly scrambled to escape. It’s thought that only one person was injured because of the blast, but roughly 70 people were evacuated from the building following the blaze.

Six fire engines and twenty-two firefighters were deployed to the scene, as one of the backpackers from the video was taken to hospital to treat minor burns to his leg. It is not fully understood what caused the battery to explode other than that it took place whilst charging.

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Diwali is Celebrated across India The Hindu festival of lights, or Diwali, is one of the most significant festivals in India which sees people pray, enjoy festive meals, and light fireworks as part of the celebrations. Typical celebrations are surrounded by colourful décor and lights, and often see people sharing sweets with neighbours and friends. The celebration is to highlight the triumph of good over evil, and so people light up their homes with small oil lamps called diyas and paper lanterns to signal the victory of light over darkness, and joy over sadness.

However, as India has seen major pollution over the last few months, the celebrations raised concerns about the state of the air pollution particularly in the capital. In recent weeks, mornings and evenings have been enveloped in a thick layer of smog adding to the growing health concerns linked to the current pollution problems. In Delhi, many people burst firecrackers for Diwali celebrations despite the government banning them, which may add to the already poor air quality.

Africa South Africa Wins Rugby World Cup The final match of the Rugby World Cup 2023 saw South Africa grab a 12-11 win over New Zealand at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. In the tense final match, the drama began with a red card for the All Black’s captain, Sam Cane, for a high tackle and four kicks - which was a first for a Rugby World Cup final. This led the Springboks to take a first-half advantage.

The second half saw the New Zealand attempt to claw back a win, but they fell a single point short of victory. The win is the fourth for South Africa, making them the first nation to win four men’s Rugby World titles. Having won all three of their final matches by 1 point, the South African side added yet another win to their belt and a consecutive win following their success at the last World Cup in 2019

Bean Varieties to Help with Food Security Across Africa 65 varieties of beans are being adopted across Africa to help improve food security and bring a steady income to farmers. Beans are known to be a resilient crop which is packed full of fibre, minerals and proteins and so are a crucial source of food for millions of Africans. However, as climate change brings more dramatic weather changes from long droughts to extreme flooding, the stability of growing such crops is under threat.

In an effort to maximise the potential of these crops, the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) has facilitated the research, development, and distribution of over 650 new bean varieties across the continent. Beans provided by PABRA use less water and are more resilient to increasingly irregular weather patterns making them perfect for withstanding long dry or wet periods. These beans have already brought more than 37 million farmers sustainable income across Africa.

Holiday Given to Kenyans to Plant Trees As part of a goal to plant 15 billion trees over the next 10 years, the Kenyan Government has given people across the country a special holiday to plant 100 million trees. Each Kenyan is encouraged to plant at least 2 seedings which would greatly contribute towards the 100-million target if everyone participates. The government has made 150 million seedings available which it hopes will encourage Kenyans to plant trees on their land.

Trees are a key focus for sustainability in many countries because they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

Therefore, the government has implemented the planting initiative and granted a special holiday to actively help fight climate change in Kenya. The planting operation will be monitored through an internet app, allowing individuals and organisations to record the activities of seedlings being planted, including the species type and the planting date.

Endeavour Magazine | 7

Americas

New Species of Marine Reptile Discovered from Fossils in North Dakota Palaeontologists have identified a massive, meateating marine reptile known as the Mosasaur from a fossil which is thought to have lived about 80 million years ago. The fossil discovered includes a near-complete skull with a bony ridge over the eyes, jaws and some skeletal parts including vertebrae. It is thought that the reptile would have measured roughly 24 feet in length. The reptile was named after the sea snake from Norse mythology as the remains were discovered in Walhalla in North Dakota, whose name also comes from the feasting halls of Nordic mythology.

The fossil’s strange mix of features made it initially quite challenging for scientists to classify.

However, it has opened the possibility that the Mosasaur group may be more diverse than previously expected.

The agreement came after lengthy negotiations with key CEOs from Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix, and others. The agreement for writers gives hopeful optimism for the Sag-Afra (the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists) strike as it shows the needs of actors and writers across the industry are finally being recognised.

Famed ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry Has Died The actor, best known for his role as Chandler on the TV show ‘Friends’, was found unresponsive in his home in Los Angeles. His sudden death has received an outpouring of love from fans of the show, as well as his fellow cast members and the show’s writers.

Aside from his popular roles in TV and film, Perry was known for writing extensively and publicly about his battles with addiction throughout his life.

His memoir released in 2022, discussed at length his struggles over the years and his road to sobriety.

A service was held on the 3rd of November to lay him to rest, which according to the Independent was attended by relatives and castmates.

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Hurricane Otis Causes Destruction in Mexico Hurricane Otis brought speeds of up to 165mph across the popular tourist resort of Acapulco in Mexico. The storm came with a threat to life warning and fears that the heavy rain could cause landslides across the area. According to the BBC, 45 people are reported to have been killed by the hurricane, whilst many more remain missing.

According to AP News, the federal government announced a $3.4 billion reconstruction plan to help families, small business owners and hotels across this popular tourist destination. The hurricane surprised forecasters as it quickly turned from a tropical storm into the highest category of hurricane, which meant many were not prepared for the kind of devastation and destruction it would cause.

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Middle East Students Make 3D Printed Food Two Students in Qatar have used 3D printing to mass-print vegetables. They have used artificially grown vegetable cells and UV lights to print a type of edible carrot. The students are from Doha’s Carnegie Mellon University and their revolutionary 3D printing of food saw them win the top prize in the FoodTech category of the Business Incubation and Acceleration Hackathon, hosted by the Qatar Development Bank.

3D-printed food products have only been made from purees of fruits and vegetables previously, however, this method has had difficulties in repeating the process for mass production. The students, who built their printer from scratch, used existing masked stereolithography technology which uses UV light to 3D print food products.

This method is much faster for bulk printing than previous methods, and if the process can be easily replicated across the country, it could be a solution to grow food security worldwide

Bathhouse Restored in Turkey

The 500-year-old Turkish Bathhouse was built around 1530 by renowned architect Mimar Sinan after it was commissioned by the Grand Admiral. According to Al Jazeera, it was known as a pinnacle of architectural splendour and sophistication in the city, known for its distinctive blue and white Iznik tiles. However, over the years many of its fixtures were stripped away and sold to international museums or private collectors.

The 13-year restoration project is finally coming to an end, which will see the Marmara Group behind the restoration and curator Anlam de Coster host a one-off art show within the bathing areas. The exhibition is titled Healing Ruins and features 22 local and international artists. The complex is expected to continue to host a programme of art events forming it as a key cultural hub in Turkey.

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Saudi Arabia Set to Host 2034 FIFA World Cup Following Australia’s decline to enter the bid to host to 2034 FIFA World Cup, Saudi Arabia is the only declared candidate and so looks to be the tournament host. Saudia Arabia has undertaken an ambitious drive to become a major player in global sports, so the hosting of the games would highlight its growing role in international football.

FIFA decided to fast-track the 2034 hosting race, following the joint bid by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco for the 2030 World Cup. The federation opened the hosting opportunity to only member federations in Asia and Oceania, with a tight deadline of 4 weeks to apply. These agreements require government support, which Saudia Arabia achieved and was the only country putting forward a bid. Therefore, Saudia Arabia looks set to be the host for the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Europe American Bully XLs have been banned in England and Wales

Messi and Bonmati win Ballon d’Or Awards in Paris

Following a number of attacks involving the breed over the last few years, the UK government have brought in legislation which states that from 31st December 2023, it will be against the law to sell, abandon, breed from or give away an American Bully XL. It will also be illegal to have one in public without a lead or muzzle. In addition, dogs less than 1 year old by the end of January 2024 must be neutered by the end of 2024, and if older than a year they must be neutered by the end of June 2024.

The dogs will be added to the current list of banned dog breeds which include Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiros.

The American Bully XLs are defined by the Kennel Club as a ‘large dog with muscular body and blocky head, suggesting great strength and power for its size’. Owners will now have to register their pets on the Index of Exempted Dogs, which comes with a £92.40 application fee.

In a ceremony held in Paris, Inter Miami and Argentina forward Lionel Messi won the Men’s Ballon d’Or for the eighth time. Messi took Argentina to the World Cup finals and scored the winning goal making it the country’s first World Cup win since 1986. Messi is the only player to have received the award 8 times, 3 times more than anyone else for the men’s award.

The Woman’s Ballon d’Or was taken home by Aitana Bonmati, who helped her club triumph in the Spanish topflight and in the Champions League. She also helped bring Spain’s victory in the Women’s World Cup this summer. The Ballon d’Or is her first of the trophy and follows her teammate Alexia Putellas’ win of the award for the past two years.

Spanish Police Seize Stolen Ukrainian Jewellery Spanish authorities have recovered 11 pieces of jewellery dating back to the Greco-Scythian period.

The items are thought to have been smuggled out of Ukraine after a brief exhibition in Kyiv. Police have been searching for the pieces since 2021 when one of the items, an ornate belt featuring a ram’s head, we confiscated during a private sale in Madrid.

Collectively, the jewellery is said to be worth 60 million euros and was recovered over recent weeks as the thieves tried to sell them off in Madrid. The items include necklaces, bracelets and earrings and constitute a part of Ukraine’s national heritage.

Spain’s National Archaeological Museum and Cultural Heritage Institute are currently in possession of the artefacts.

Endeavour Magazine | 11

THE BOOKSHOP OF CHOICE R.I.K. Services Ltd chevron-square-right rikservices.net/ phone-square + 1 868 223 1137/38/39 envelope-square office@rikservices.net

R.I.K. Services Ltd

With a passion for making literature more accessible, R.I.K. Services has spent over 40 years providing the people of Trinidad and Tobago with a vast array of book titles and products to help fuel imaginations, aid education, and even encourage people to discover new hobbies or skills through the power of reading. We got the chance to speak with Mr. Jeremy Chaitoo, Inventory Analyst from R.I.K. Services Ltd, to learn more about the work that the company does to bring book diversity across the region, implement accessibility to education, and keep its prices affordable in the ever-changing world of the book retail industry.

F

ounded in 1975 by the company’s namesake, Mr Roland Ishmael Khan, R.I.K. Services has transformed from a budding company into a major force to be reckoned with in the industry. Mr Khan’s legacy can still be felt throughout the daily operations of R.I.K. Services today as his family continue to uphold the company’s reputation as a top wholesaler providing books and supplies to businesses and schools across the country. R.I.K. Services has 6 physical stores located throughout Trinidad, with the central part of its operations taking place from its main branch in San Fernando.

R.I.K. also facilitates those who are unable to visit their stores through online orders from their website and social media, with deliveries to any location in the Caribbean.

Across its branches, R.I.K. Services offers a wide range of literature; from short stories of every genre, to works of fiction and non-fiction perfect for all ages, as well as self-help books and other titles perfect for pursuing knowledge, skills/ hobbies, and self-education. R.I.K. Services offers a range of titles from Trinbagonian, Caribbean, and international authors to ensure that it supports local art and continues to bring diverse reading material to people across the region. One thing is for certain, when you visit any R.I.K. Services branch you will be sure to find something that is suited to your needs or interests.

A key focus for R.I.K. Services is providing educational material for preschool, primary and secondary levels of education, which has become an increasingly competitive business market in Trinidad. Every year parents flock to R.I.K. Services stores to get books, stationery, and uniforms at an affordable low price which the company is known for.

However, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Trinidad is looking to modernise traditional schooling methods and move the education system towards an integrated online learning approach. MOE’s Education Policy for 2023-2027 wants to digitise content that will be available for all students on its own proprietary web platform.

For book retailers in Trinidad like R.I.K. Services, the policy raises concerns as it will result in less reliance on bookshops for physical textbooks and school supplies which are typically high in demand both online and in-store at the start of the term.

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R.I.K. Services Ltd

Whilst it is clear that R.I.K. Services stands firmly behind the accessibility of education, the move towards online education highlights a growing fear across the industry. This fear has already been looming for some time as online book services are increasingly taking business away from traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Whilst Mr Chaitoo highlights these concerns, he remains firm in his belief that what sets R.I.K. Services apart from its rivals across the industry is its top-notch customer service and diverse product offerings. R.I.K. Services offers way more than just books; its stores offer a wide variety of stationery, ready-made uniforms, plain and plaid materials, games, toys, and puzzles. It even offers seasonal products, including a bigger inventory of games and toys around the Christmas period.

Across these products, it maintains highly competitive prices, which it is able to offer having leveraged its relationships with a vast number of local and overseas suppliers to procure goods at a low cost. This procurement means R.I.K. Services can maintain its low price point which reflects in happy customers who are not paying inflated rates for items.

In providing these products, customers are always met with excellent customer service as the entire R.I.K. Services team is committed to going above and beyond to meet the needs of its customers. Therefore, the top-quality service and favourable price points you get with R.I.K. Services are why customers continue to return to this company.

Overall, R.I.K. Services continues to be a leader in the retail book industry through its delivery of diverse literature and related product offerings at such an affordable price, backed by its knowledgeable and hospitable employees and under the direction of their Managing Director. It is clear that behind R.I.K. Services is the same love for sharing literature and providing a range of products to benefit the people of Trinidad and Tobago that started the company all those years ago; and, as it looks to the future and grapples with the ever-changing nature of the industry, we look forward to seeing how R.I.K. Services continues to evolve.

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The Bookshop of Choice

Endeavour Magazine | 17

WORLD LEADING GOLD PRODUCER Newmont Corporation chevron-square-right www.newmont.com phone-square 303 863 7414

Newmont Corporation

As a world-leading gold company and a key producer of copper, silver, zinc and lead across the world, Newmont Corporation is home to a worldclass portfolio of assets, prospects, and talent across multiple favourable mining jurisdictions in North America, South America, Australia, and Africa. Consequently, the company is renowned as an industry leader that creates value across its operations, supported by its strict safety standards, superior execution, and technical proficiency in the mining industry.

F

ounded in 1921, Newmont began publicly trading in 1925 and is now the only gold producer to be listed in the S&P 500 Index. However, a central focus of Newmont is its principled environmental, social and governance practices which underline every facet of its mining and metal production operations. Newmont spent the first century of its operations primarily working in the natural resources industry mining gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc, lithium, uranium, coal, nickel, and aggregates.

However, it also facilitated key development across the oil and gas industry. Today the company is measured by its assets, prospects and people, as its operations now span 9 countries where it continues to create value and opportunities for its shareholders, employees, and host communities.

Newmont’s mining operations in South America are crucial to the current and future development of the country towards global success. A key site of operation for Newmont is in Suriname at the Merian Mine. Newmont Suriname LLC is the fully owned subsidiary of the Newmont Goldcorp Corporation which operates the Merian Mine on behalf of Suriname Gold Project CV - a Suriname Limited partnership. Newmont Suriname owns a 75% interest in the limited partnership with Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V., Suriname’s state-owned oil company, which owns the remaining 35% interest. The Merian Mine is an open pit mine for gold which began construction in 2014. The mine has a mine life of 12-14 years and is committed to partnering with the Surinamese government, the local population, the Pamaka community and the Kawina community, to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining practices.

As part of Newmont Suriname’s keen commitment to the local community through the Merian Mine, it established a Community Development Fund (CDF) in 2016 with the goal of regularly contributing to sustainable projects which will benefit the Pamaka community. Current projects have included providing drinking water, electrical supply, and agricultural projects to develop the local regions towards success. Furthermore, Newmont Suriname is currently in deliberation with the local Kawina community who have been impacted by the Merian activities to find a way that this community can also 20 | Endeavour Magazine

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Newmont Corporation

reap key benefits from Newmont’s mining activities within its community. Consequently, Newmont is committed to continuing its close engagement with government and local community members to advance the development of the project in a manner that will generate sustainable economic and social benefits for people across Suriname.

Furthermore, Newmont Suriname is committed to responsible environmental stewardship, as throughout its operations it is always striving to protect the health, safety and overall well-being of its host communities and the subsequent environments. Consequently, in order for mining to begin in the Merian area, the company had to submit a feasibility study and an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment which needed approval by the Republic of Suriname of the Merian ESIA, the Merian Right of Exploitation for gold and other minerals. This approval has now been granted to Newmont Suriname signifying the company’s role in developing the mining industry towards economic success whilst working to support a positive social and environmental impact where possible.

A further crucial development for the Newmont Corporation in South America is in the Yanacocha Mine located 800 kilometres northeast of Lima, Peru. The project has invested more than $1 billion in environmental and social responsibility projects between 1993 and 2012 and remains committed to investing in the local community for many years 22 | Endeavour Magazine

to come. The Yanacocha Mine is South America’s largest gold mine which is situated between 3,500 and 4,100 meters above sea level and has development activities in four primary basins. The mine is wholly owned by Newmont and remains one of its largest mining operations in South America.

Yanachocha is a surface mine, which poured its first gold ore bar in 1993 and has an annual gold production of 270 Koz. However, whilst being Newmont’s largest gold mine operation it is keenly concerned with creating profitable production that generates sustainable developments and opportunity for the region.

It plans to do this through its key guiding values of integrity, trust and respect which saw it establish the Asociación Los Andes de Cajamarca (ALAC) to promote sustainable development in the Cajamarca region. The activities of ALAC are focused primarily on three areas: entrepreneurial development, institutional capacity building and human capital development. Through its ALAC organisation, it can focus on bringing greater development across health infrastructures and services, its farming initiatives, and its non-profit farming organisation FONCREAGRO, all with the combined aim of bringing economic development on a local and regional level.

World Leading Gold Producer

Finally, as the Yanacocha mines continue to have a great gold output for Newmont, it is always looking for ways to ensure that the environmental impacts of its operations are always reduced. As part of this Yanacocha abides by Peruvian laws and national and international standards in the areas of environmental stewardship, mine closure, reclamation, and social responsibility. These programs are inclusive of water management initiatives including erosion and sediment control, water treatment, monitoring, as well as managing and maintaining reservoirs and dams to ensure that mining activities are not significantly impacting water supplies. Other environmental initiatives by Newmont surrounding the Yanacocha mine are air quality monitoring, environmental permitting and attaining environmental certification to highlight the continuing effort of the mine to meet the most stringent quality standards for the benefit of the local communities across the region.

Ultimately, when we look back over these two mining operations, we can see the key values that Newmont places in developing, supporting, and

prioritising the positive impact of its operation within the local communities. Newmont even has Cerro Negro in Argentina and Pueblo Viejo in Santa Domingo, which shows the expansive role that South America play in the developing gold industry for Newmont. The company clearly opens a dialogue with local communities whilst implementing strict regulations and certifications to ensure that every aspect of its mining is governed by national environmental standards. As the world’s leading gold company, it’s clear to see how Newmont has established itself since it began trading in 1925 as a vital player across the mining operations not just in South America, but in Africa, Australia, and North America too. Consequently, in its overall purpose to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining, Newmont seems to be successful through its focus on safety, integrity, sustainability, and inclusion, contributing to its overall commitment to responsible mining.

Endeavour Magazine | 23

FUELLING TANZANIA’S PETROLEUM INDUSTRY World Oil Tanzania Ltd. chevron-square-right www.worldoil.co.tz phone-square 225 736 502 844/845 envelope-square info@worldoi.co.tz

World Oil Tanzania Ltd.

With a key focus on providing innovative solutions to its customers across the logistics and customs clearing services of petroleum products, World Oil Tanzania Ltd (WOTL) is a leading transporter of petroleum and its related products across Tanzania and towards international markets in Central and Eastern Africa. Backed by over 20 years of experience, WOTL remains committed to providing professional transportation services for petroleum products to a whole range of high-profile customers whilst ensuring that safety is always a central priority.

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stablished in 1999, WOTL is a limited liability company which is incorporated and domiciled in Tanzania, with its headquarters in Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam. As a leading importer, distributor, and marketer of petroleum products. WOTL takes pride in its dedication to ensuring high levels of efficiency, reliability, clean deliveries, timely reporting, and loss free service to help maintain its reputation as a leading petroleum logistics and hospitality service. Today, WOTL is a household name that has undertaken over 100 projects within the petroleum industry to develop the accessibility of petroleum.

Its role in developing the accessibility of petroleum critically bridges the gaps in the fuel transportation market, which previously saw unreliable and unorganised petroleum services.

Therefore, WOTL continues to provide the people of Tanzania with reliable, professional, and profitable petroleum transport services. It is this careful dedication to the region and filling any previous gaps, which has allowed WOTL to be the company of choice for the transportation, importation, and marketing of petroleum products across Tanzania.

Offering a range of hospitality and transporting services to various suppliers in both local and transit businesses. The company has 2 fuel terminals in Kigamboni with a total fuel capacity of 89 million litres for both AGO and PMS fuel. WOTL also has an additional 2 fuel terminals in Lubumbashi in Congo. These facilities allow WOTL to carry out its services and connect fuel across local and international markets. Its expansive role across Tanzania highlights WOTL’s longterm cooperation with clients on a national level who value WOTL’s commitment, reliability, and responsiveness to their needs.

By establishing itself as a crucial player in the petroleum industry of Tanzania, WOTL continues to serve the industry, it looks to expand the scope of its offered services and technological capabilities.

Transport facilities under WOTL include overnight secure parking, security and protection of equipment and pre-loaded vehicles which are parked across its site. The facilities have 2 wash bay facilities with the necessary effluent provisions to absorb any fuel substances during the process of external washing and internal cleansing.

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World Oil Tanzania Ltd.

Furthermore, WORL also provides office and storage facilities which cater for operational technical requirements. However, one of the most central values of WOTL is its commitment to developing sustainable business services through strategic partnerships within the Central, Southern and Eastern African markets.

WOTL upholds this crucial level of sustainable development through its innovative logistics and hospitality services which use a behaviour-based system called the Loss Prevention System (LPS) which it utilised to prevent and reduce losses throughout its company by positively influencing the behaviour of all persons involved. By keeping its 400+ strong workforce happy, cared for and focused on providing the best possible experience for its customers, WOTL continues to attain market leadership thanks to the quality of its service, which ultimately creates and maximises the sustainability of the company’s value.

Overall, WOTL takes pride in its leading professional transportation services for petroleum products, which through its facilities, assets and personnel has allowed it to optimize its operations to serve the industry in Tanzania with flexible and reliable solutions. With core values of loyalty, accountability, responsibility, ownership, and excellent service according to its customer’s requirements; WOTL has become a standard for excellence across the industry. We look forward to seeing how WOTL continues to expand across Tanzania over the coming years, and as it takes its standard of excellence and sustainability towards venturing further into international markets

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GET TO KNOW US Hasman Technical Services Ltd. founded in July 2014, is a Ghanaian owned company aimed at providing technical services to the Power Generation, Oil and Gas Infrastructure Industries. Presently, our specialization ranges from the installation of new plants through routine maintenance right up to the execution of planned outages on gas turbine units.

Being mindful of the importance of power, be it electrical, gas, or oil, to businesses and society as a whole, we strive to go beyond being simply a service provider and take the extra step to become a client’s business partner for life. We aim at crafting connections with our clients by fulfilling our vision and missions. Our capabilities and services span across Ghana and the West African Sub Region.

The expertise and skills which we have obtained throughout the years allow us to focus on project planning, new unit construction and installation, operation and maintenance, commissioning, and outage execution.

Our vision is to build local capabilities through the highest quality technical services and hiring the most qualified professionals in the power generation and oil and gas sectors.

“Our values are part of our DNA.They guide the way we work with our clients, business partners and employees with integrity, accountability, passion, humility, and confidence. We believe that our focus on these values have helped us build a unique company culture where ideas can blossom.”

William A. Wood, Managing Director

Our values are part of our DNA. They guide the way we work with our Clients, Business Partners, and Employees with Integrity, Accountability, Passion, Humility, and Confidence. We believe that our focus on these Values has helped us build a unique company culture where ideas can blossom.

At Harman, Safety Is Paramount

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The Well-being and protection of our Staff is our first priority, and our utmost goal is to conduct business without any instances of harm or injury. HASMAN places a high priority on employee safety and wellbeing, delivering a secure working environment for clients, partners, and personnel. We put special emphasis on encouraging a culture of safety, upholding laws and regulations, embracing stakeholder engagement, proactively identifying and mitigating safety risks. HASMAN makes sure that its Health, Safety, Environment, and Security Policy is available to its staff, subcontractors, and other interested parties.

New Unit Installation With our experienced team of Technicians, We provide New Unit Installation Services for the Power Generation, Oil and Gas Industry. Technical Direction Of Planned Outages Clear and effective Technical Direction for planned outages to keep Units and Systems running smoothly.

Quality Development & Improvement Over the past years, we have demonstrated, exhibited and maintained the highest quality standards by ensuring that products and services are made to measure up customer’s specifications and demands. The company has employed a Quality Assurance / Control and Management technique to ensure activities and operations are made right in order to enhance workflow, product quality, waste minimizing and continuous improvement. The Company has achieved great milestones since its inception with regards to project executed and services provided such as Welding and Fabrication Activities, Plant Installation, among others. We have achieved the highest quality standards through strict adherence to international codes and standards governing all operations and activities with good workmanship by ensuring that products and services offered as well as the means used to provide them are consistent.

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GLOBAL CARGO CONNECTORS PSA Singapore chevron-square-right www.singaporepsa.com phone-square +65 6274 7111

PSA Singapore

Operating the world’s largest transhipment hub, PSA Singapore provides unrivalled connectivity in the heart of Southeast Asia. PSA Singapore is a world-leading ports and terminals group which handled 37 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers in 2022. Therefore, as the flagship terminal of PSA International, PSA Singapore leads the industry across the region providing handling, management, depot, and warehousing services to a whole range of container vessels.

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P

SA Singapore began as the Port of Singapore Authority, which was a statutory board responsible for regulating, operating, and promoting the Port of Singapore in the 1960s.

However, in the 1970s its container port and handling facilities were established which over the next few decades saw expansive growth reaching 5 million TEU by 1990. By this point, Singapore was the largest container port in the world, and so in 1996, the regulatory functions of the original company were transferred to Singapore’s new maritime regulator, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

In 1997, the Port of Singapore Authority converted into an independent commercial company which kept the PSA initials and added Singapore removing the original acronym meaning. Since the container port and handling services began as the central focus for PSA Singapore, it has continued to expand and play a vital role in the overarching multinational PSA International group.

The core business of PSA Singapore is the movement of cargo from one vessel to another whilst in transit to its destination. This vital role is due to its strategic location at the heart of

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Southeast Asia, at the crucial crossing point of many major shipping routes. Therefore, the PSA Singapore has become an important hub for global supply chains as feeder vessels bring containers to the Port of Singapore which are then loaded onto larger vessels which are then taken on shipments to their final destinations.

This transhipment method is both costeffective and efficient because it allows vessels to make a single voyage to the port, rather than multiple journeys to each individual destination. Consequently, approximately 85% of the containers that arrive in Singapore are transhipped to another port of call, and so the role that PSA Singapore plays in facilitating and maintaining this system of transhipment can be felt across the local and international cargo industry.

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Across PSA Singapore there are 55 berths at the Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani and Pasir Panjang ports. These ports all are equipped with container handling equipment and have a combined capacity of 50 million TEUs. The largest facility is at the Pasir Panjang Terminals (PPT) which has 3 dedicated births and is supported by an open car yard and multi-storey car storage yard which accommodates 20,000 car park lots. In addition, PSA Singapore has its Jurong Island Terminal which is located on the western corner of Jurong Island and has 2 berth terminals with a capacity of 400 TEUs. A significant part of the development of PSA Singapore is the Tuas Port which is currently under development to consolidate all the company’s container terminals into a single location on the western seaboard of Tuas. The finished port is planned to have an automated and integrated operations system which will be deployed to tackle the next generation of cargo demand. Construction of the first set of berths began in 2021 and is expected to be completed by 2040. The entire project is part of PSA Singapore’s vision to form a holistic ecosystem which will bring goods anywhere in the world faster and more reliably.

For PSA Singapore sustainability is not just an option but a responsibility. It is working constantly to ensure that in order for the business to retain its resilience and continue to grow without compromising the environment it has set out on a mission to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the next generation. It has committed to a range of targets which are in line with Singapore’s climate ambitions. A crucial step towards these initiatives came in a recent partnership between PSA Singapore and the Pacific International Lines (PIL).

As announced this month, the two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly develop sustainable solutions to cut carbon emissions and optimise maritime efficiency. This includes the development of a set of low-carbon emission routes for containers shipped by both companies.

PIL is the largest home-grown carrier in southeast Asia with strong shipping links in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Oceania. As leaders in their respective industries, the partnership signifies a crucial move towards sustainability throughout the shipping industry. Mr Nelson Quek, Regional CEO of Southeast Asia for PSA International discusses the partnership between its flagship

Global Cargo Connectors

Singapore division and PIL in the company’s recent press release, stating that “PSA is pleased to partner with PIL as we take the bold and essential step towards decarbonising the global supply chains that power our economy. We remain committed to working hand-in-hand with likeminded stakeholders as we spur concerted action towards our transition to a cleaner and sustainable future beyond the areas served by our ports”.

Therefore, this crucial partnership is set to drive change across the industry and allow each company to meet the common goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is these joint ventures with other respected stakeholders within the shipping and cargo industry, that have allowed PSA Singapore to develop its operations and establish itself as a crucial hub for these industries on a global scale. Through strategic partnerships, PSA Singapore continues to deliver productivity and efficient terminal services.

Overall, PSA Singapore has worked tirelessly over the last 50 years to move from a regulatory board into the world-leading ports and terminal group,

which has continued to expand across the globe.

PSA Singapore plays a crucial role in an international network of port and container handling services both under PSA International, but also in the shipping industry as a whole. Consequently, through this work to develop its facilities and through strategic partnerships with significant stakeholders across the industry, PSA Singapore continues to foster a leading supply chain which is powered by its innovation, technology, and sustainable practices.

Endeavour Magazine | 41

SWEET ENERGY Ingenio Magdalena chevron-square-right www.imsa.com.gt/en phone-square (+502) 2422 7200 envelope-square tierra_dulce@imsa.com.gt

Ingenio Magdalena

With over 33 years of history behind it, Ingenio Magdalena produces and commercializes products derived from sugar cane milling, which has established the company as the largest sugar cane producer in Central America and a key producer of renewable energy. The company is therefore on a mission to transform the sugar cane crop into a crucial pillar of sustainable development for the future through its core values of honesty, humility, and a passion for achievement. We are thrilled to return to Magdalena once again and see how its renewable energy development has continued to expand as it sets out goals for the next few years.

M

agdalena began as a small agricultural company which over the years continued to expand, and today is a leading energy producer across Guatemala thanks to its crop growing and harvesting process. As of 2023, renewable energy produced from the crop by Magdalena generates 12% of the energy consumed in Guatemala. Therefore, through the development of the sugar cane crop, Magdalena has positioned itself as a leading renewable energy producer which is setting its sights on larger targets as the world moves ever more towards a green future.

For Magdalena, sugar plays the most prominent role in its operations, as it is from this crop that it has significantly developed Guatemala as an industrial unit. Sugar cane is grown and milled in Guatemala

by Magdalena and then refined into sugar products suitable for exporting across Latin America, the US, Europe, and Asia. The sugar produced by Magdalena includes standard, brown, golden, raw, and refined, all of which come in 3 qualities: premium, Mag and Tierra Dulce. The brown and standard sugar is transported across local markets, whilst raw, golden, and refined sugars which it exported.

The current installed capacity at Magdalena, through its mills, is 40,000 metric tonnes (MT) of sugar cane milled per day. What separates Magdalena’s production is its development and application of technologies which enhances the quality and efficiency of its sugar cane milling and production processes in its raw form. These technologies have allowed Magdalens to lead the national market with a 24% contribution of sugar and a current milling rate of 38,640 metric tonnes of sugar cane a day.

However, biomass is produced as a byproduct of the sugar cane milling process, is used by Magdalena as a renewable energy source to supply energy to the National Interconnected System via its power plant. Magdalena has been actively producing power since the 1990s and currently has an installed capacity of 331.4 megawatt hours (MWh) of electrical energy. The company began generating electricity in the 1990s when its power generation plant had a capacity of just 12.5 MegaWatts. Four years later, Magdalena signed its first long-term contract with Empressa Eléctrica de Guatemala (EEGSA) for an

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additional 14 MW. This contract was renewed in 2002, adding a further 15.4MW of electrical output.

Over the following years, Magdalena has continued to expand its electrical capacity which has seen the company now play a significant role in energy production for the region, as well as make crucial steps towards further renewable energy resources.

At present in 2023, Magdalena is currently undertaking new projects into the world of renewable energy as it not only becomes a key focus for the company, but the world too. The Central American region is currently in the midst of an unprecedented energy transformation, for which Magdalen is leading the way as an essential pillar for the generation of electric energy through sustainable means. Previously, Magdalena has utilised biomass and hydroelectric energy which have both had a significant impact on the environment and the local community. Its projects to continually reduce carbon dioxide production are seeking to improve the quality of life across the areas in which it operates, and so we can see through its growth of non-conventional renewable energy previously, Magdalena is set on a new mission to find a way to develop energy for Guatemala.

In a recent announcement, Magdalena announced it was looking to move towards developing solar and wind energy production, to benefit both its operations and contribute significantly to the power production across Guatemala. One facet of these plans is that it wants to improve the generation and storage of its renewable energy services through technological innovation which will establish it not only as a key player on a national level, but a key player in the energy revolution on a global scale.

Magdalena, therefore, stands as a beacon of hope for a region that is constantly striving for a greener and more prosperous future. Consequently, by 2026 Magdalena hopes to be a cost and productivity leader through innovation, growth, and sustainable values creation, which is diversifying its products across a range of different markets from crop production to renewable energy delivery.

However, Magdalena’s operations do not end there; the company utilises the by-products of their sugar cane milling in the production of alcohol with the use of molasses. By fermenting the by-products that derive from the sugar cane milling process with a yeast strain, Magdalena can distil these products to produce Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), Industrial Alcohol (REN) and Heads and Tails (C&C). In addition, Magdalena processes the carbon dioxide produced 46 | Endeavour Magazine

Sweet Energy

from the fermentation process and purifies it to market towards the beverage industry. Hence, in every stage of Magalena’s operations limiting waste and sustainability are always at the forefront.

An underlying focus for Magdalena is its focus on supporting and developing the local community and remaining aware of its wider impact throughout every operation.

Magdalena remains committed to improving the quality of life for its employees, their families and the surrounding communities by implementing labour, environmental, occupational, health, and safety initiatives across the region. Furthermore, Magdalena continuously works to better understand the environment through education to make efficient and rational use of the natural resources available to best serve present and future generations. Therefore, it is clear that throughout every single aspect of Magdalena’s operations is a key focus on bringing beneficial development initiatives and infrastructure to ensure the longevity of its operations in Guatemala.

Overall, Magdalena is a leading sugar cane production and renewable energy company across Central and Latin America. Through innovative technologies which are constantly working to benefit the people, land and the planet, Magdalena is leading the way as a company that stands for sustainable development. As Magdalena looks towards the future, we look forward to seeing how the continues to develop in line with the growing demand for green energy solutions on both a local and international scale.

Endeavour Magazine | 47

Celebrating the Souls of the Dead:

EL DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

Written by Carley Fallows

El Día De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a festival taking place on November 1st-2nd which celebrates the life and souls of those that have passed on. The holiday is largely celebrated by Mexican and Hispanic communities across the world where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that celebrates their lives with food, drink, and festivities.

We may all be familiar with the skulls surrounded by brightly coloured flowers that are so intrinsically linked with the holiday; however, the history of Día De Los Muertos extends back hundreds of thousands of years to rituals honouring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

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O

n Día De Los Muertos it is believed that the border between the spirit world and the real world is dissolved, and so during this period, the souls of relatives can return briefly to the living world to visit their families. The celebrations see a range of food, drinks and music celebrated to guide the souls back to the living world for this annual reunion. Often gravesites and ofrendas alters which are often constructed in homes - are covered in the favourite foods of those relatives who have passed on, alongside bright marigolds.

These offerings are said to invite and guide deceased relatives to your home and give them sustenance after their long venture from the other side. Marigolds play a crucial role as the petals are thought to guide wandering souls back to their place of rest, alongside smoke from copal incense, which is used to transmit praise and prayers, whilst purifying the areas around the altar.

However, the history of celebrating the dead extends back to pre-Hispanic cultures which saw death as a natural phase of life, and so Aztecs, Toltecs and other Nahua people considered mourning the dead disrespectful. Therefore, traditions were established to celebrate how the dead were still part of the community and their spirits would always be kept alive in memory by their families. Therefore, on Día De Los Muertos these spirits return to earth and remain part of the community to be celebrated for their lives rather

than mourning their deaths. Consequently, today’s Day of the Dead celebrations are a mash-up of preHispanic religious rites and Christian feasts.

UNESCO recognised the importance of Día De Los Muertos in 2008 as it added the holiday to its Tangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List to show the importance of the day in Mexican communities. Whilst the particular customs and scale of the celebrations have evolved with each generation and region, the heart of the festival is to remember and celebrate those who have passed on from this world but continue to be ever-present. Every celebration of life is surrounded by love and respect for their family members past and present as they celebrate life through death.

One of the most familiar images associated with Día De Los Muertos is skulls or skeletons, which are featured heavily in decorations, food and even in costumes on the holiday. The iconic skulls stem from Mexican political cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada who created an etching to accompany a literary Calavera (skull). He dressed his personification of death in fancy French clothing and called it Calavera Garbancera, as an intended social commentary on Mexican society’s emulation of European sophistication, with the phrase “Todos somos calaveras” (We are all skeletons). Then in

1947, artist Diego Rivera featured Posada’s stylised skeleton in his mural “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park”, which features a skeletal bust in a large feminine hat which was named Catrina – slang for ‘the rich’. Today, the Calavera Catrina, or elegant skull, is El Día De Los Muertos’ most ubiquitous symbol. Consequently, across Día De Los Muertos festivities today you are sure to find plenty of skulls, often with large numbers of people donning skull face paint.

Common alter snacks and beverages include water to refresh souls after their long journeys from the spirit world, as well as Pan de Muerto, which is typically a sweet bread which features anise seeds and is decorated with bones and skulls made from dough. Often the dough bones are decorated in a circle to represent the circle of life. Sugar skulls also prominently feature throughout the celebration and are part of a tradition brought by 17th Century Italian Missionaries which are decorated with crystalline colours. These sugar skulls come in a whole range of styles, sizes and complexities but are hard to miss at any Día De Los Muertos celebration.

Finally, pulque is a sweet, fermented beverage made from agave sap, which is served alongside a thin warm porridge made from corn flour with unrefined cane sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla, as well as hot chocolate. The food at Day of the Dead celebrations invites their relatives in and provides them with refreshments in the real world alongside a range of their favourite snacks, this celebrates both the memory of relatives and shows respect for their relatives’ journeys from the spirit world.

Overall, the Día De Los Muertos is a bright and rich cultural festival which celebrates the legacy and life of family members. Through a range of offerings, music and memory sharing, the celebrations focus on the meaning of family and the cycle of life that we are all part of. Therefore, the Day of the Dead is celebrated around the world by Mexican and Hispanic communities as they welcome in their relatives this November and celebrate death through life. www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel-andadventure/top-10-things-know-about-day-dead www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead Endeavour Magazine | 49

STRATEGICALLY LOCATED CARGO HANDLING Port of Greater Baton Rouge chevron-square-right www.portgbr.com

Port of Greater Baton Rouge

Located on the Mississippi River, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is strategically located to provide crucial access to the nation’s heartland via nearly 15,000 miles of inland water transportation, as well as to the Gulf of Mexico and ocean trade lanes to Latin America and beyond. Consequently, the port is an integral part of the national maritime industry and a significant player in developing Louisiana’s economy. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge now is one of the top ports in the US dealing with a significant tonnage of cargo every single day.

B

efore 1920, Greater Baton Rouge was just a docking facility, which consisted of wooden wharves along the Mississippi River Edge but had no levee system. However, as the river levels were relatively stable, the port made docking at the port simple and efficient for mooring. Therefore in 1926, the Greater Baton Rouge Municipal Dock was completed on the east bank of the Mississippi bringing greater cargo docking possibilities to the region, which in 1952 saw new legislation introduced to establish the Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission. Then just 2 years later construction began on a general cargo dock, grain elevator, and a grain dock on the west bank of the river allowing the port to begin to play a vital role in Louisiana’s growing economy.

Today, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge provides a wide range of products and services including the handling of forest, agricultural, steel, pipe, and petroleum products, as well as ores and coals and bulk and liquid bulk chemicals. Due to the port’s diverse shipping options via its vast network of water and road links, the port has established itself a reputation for outstanding service. This service is backed by the Port’s highly experienced business development staff which are on hand to transfer products and various types of cargo in a timely, safe, and secure way. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge’s commitment to excellence for its customers has earned the port a reputation for productivity and damage-free cargo handling that you can rely on.

Facilities at the port include deepwater docks, export grain elevators, liquid bulk terminals, midstream buoys and anchorage, warehousing, inland river terminal and a range of different facilities to make sure the port efficiently moves cargo to benefit the local region and continues to develop Louisiana for continued future development. Currently, the Port has 4 deep-water draft ships which can berth and unload/load at the same time.

However, the Port has recently undertaken a $15 million rehabilitation project which aims to rehabilitate an existing fifth berth at the northernmost end of existing deepwater docks. The project has been designed, approved, and partially funded. It is the first major berth expansion since the completion of the Port’s doc extension in 1986.

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The port today is known for its growth and expansion, which has seen its jurisdiction expand to include Pointe Coupee Parish which includes the Port of Pointe Coupee in Lensworth, as well as the ‘old ferry landing’ on the west side of the Mississippi River. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge has seen in recent years American Queen Voyages making regular stops at the landing, which takes passengers on excursions around the parish and across the river to St. Francisville and West Feliciana Paris. Furthermore, American Cruise Lines and Viking River Cruises began departing from the port in 2022.

The port was attractive to these companies due to its commitment to upgrading and improving the old ferry landing to make it better for passenger traffic and the coach buses which transport visitors to places of interest in nearby towns. The profitability of the port has seen a significant boost in tourism across Greater Baton Rouge.

The port is looking to expand its facilities to enable port partners to increase capabilities and create more economic opportunities.

The port is currently undertaking plans to rehabilitate and expand its northernmost deepwater berth in Mississippi with the aim of increasing its ship size capabilities and making docking into the existing deepwater berth safer. Currently, berths at the port have been experiencing increased congestion with the increasing demand for cargo across Mississippi. Therefore, additional infrastructure is needed to service the growing demand for liquid bulk commodities.

Funding for the dock facilities expansion is in place and is permitted with work being completed and hopes to increase container handling. However, The Port is requesting more funding from the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) as well as other funding sources which hopes to see more efficient affixed container handling pieces of equipment to increase port container handling facilities of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Looking towards the future, an exciting development for the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is Grön Fuels, a Fidelis company, which announced on Earth Day 2021 the development of a $9.2 billion carbon-negative renewable fuel complex at the port. The facility will be designed to be 54 | Endeavour Magazine

Strategically Located Cargo Handling

the world’s largest sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel production facility. Construction commenced in 2022 and is hoped to achieve full commercial operation by 2025. Renewable energy for the port is a key development, and so Grön Fuels will be using proven and bankable technologies from renowned global technology providers to manufacture sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD). The facility is also planned to produce other renewable materials, as well as green hydrogen.

The project will be completed in conjunction with its on-site 200MegaWatt (MW) renewable carbonnegative electric power plants will produce carbonnegative SAF and RD. The entire system at the Port is the flagship Fidelis Climate GigaSystem™ and is expected to mitigate over one gigaton of carbon dioxide from facilities located at the Port over the production facility’s lifetime. Construction at Grön Fuels LLC is anticipated to begin in 2023.

As we have seen the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is an expansive operation that has seen such a strategically located port continue to expand its

operations to develop towards a more sustainable future that is critically concerned with ensuring that the importing and transporting of cargo across the port is consistent. The port is continually committed to refurbishing its existing infrastructure and developing further berths to be able to continue to meet the demands of the future. Consequently, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge continues to play a significant role in developing Mississippi and the port towards continued economic success.

Endeavour Magazine | 55

120 YEARS AS AFRICA’S BEST KNOWN HOSPITALITY VENUE The Victoria Falls Hotel chevron-square-right www.victoriafallshotel.com/ phone-square +263 83 2844751/9 envelope-square equiries@victoriafallshotel.com

The Victoria Falls Hotel

Standing just a few hundred meters from one of the world’s most stunning tourist attractions, the Victoria Falls Hotel is not just a place to stay but a stylish and graceful venue which offers a range of contemporary facilities and amenities whilst staying true to its charming historic feel. The hotel sits atop a gorge, which throughout your stay allows you to enjoy the relaxing sound of the waterfall crashing into the gorge below. The hotel’s location therefore lends itself to providing spectacular views of the surrounding historic road and rail bridge which links Zimbabwe and Zambia across the gorge.

T

he Victoria Falls Hotel was opened in June 1904, just before the planned Cape-to-Cairo railway reached the Zambezi River. Built by the railway authorities, Victoria Falls was the first real tourist hotel across the territory just north of the Limpopo River at the start of the 20th century.

Within a year or so, the famed bridge across the Zambezi was completed, giving direct access to the hotel from surrounding regions as the railway linked what is now Zimbabwe and Zambia. The hotel has always been strongly linked to the railways, and now even has a private stairway to the railway station platform within the hotel.

Over the first 60 years of the hotel, it was the only one on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi and offered something different to the hotels on the northern side in the town of Livingstone. It started off as a small establishment with a handful of bedrooms and public areas, with all the in-buildings being made of corrugated iron. For much of its early life, visitors came by rail, but with new road developments in the 1930s, and especially in the 1960s, access to the hotel via road was much quicker and easier. Today, most arrivals to Victoria Falls arrive by air through the modern Victoria Falls International Airport.

However, the famed Rovos Rail service linking South Africa and Tanzania remains popular for bringing guests by rail to the hotel - a great nod back to how the hotel began.

Since its modest beginnings, the hotel has continually expanded with the introduction of fine accommodation and service wings which brought further modernization and expansion to cope with its rising number of guests. The hotel has two major wings which reach out from its central base – known as ‘hammerheads’- a design which was based on the old crossed rail-tracks logo of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Additional wings reach out from the entrance area and between the front and back blocks. In the 1990s, the Stables Wing was constructed as a delightful addition which boosted bedroom and suite numbers to well over 150.

The hotel’s flagship restaurant, The Livingstone, was built in 1917 and today is one of Zimbabwe’s longest-running dining venues. A further restaurant called Jungle Junction was built in the 1990s where the African spectacular dance show ran nightly from the 50s and 80s. The third dining area

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is Stanley’s Terrace which looks out across the manicured lawns to the bridge. Other facilities and amenities have developed over the last 120 years of operation which now include conference rooms, a comfortable lounge, a courtyard, a lounge area, a retail outlet, an art gallery, and service areas such as a hair salon, day spa and ground operator’s desk. The hotel also has a delightful swimming pool area which sits across the garden. Furthermore, recent developments saw the hotel’s re-creation of a cocktail bar just off the lounge, located exactly where the country’s first cocktail bar was opened in the early 1960s.

Activities for guests range from river cruises to game drives throughout the surrounding national parks, as well as a range of air and helicopter rides over the falls and even bungee jumps off the bridge.

The hotel has its own unique and charming Anglican church, St. Mary Magdalene, which was first opened in 1932 and regularly hosts a range of services as well as special occasions including weddings and baptisms. The Victoria Falls Hotel is thought to be the only hotel in Zimbabwe with its own chapel, which has long been a cherished feature of the property to this day. In recent decades, an increasing number of hotels and accommodation facilities have been opened in and around the town of Victoria Falls, but none boasts the same history and scope that The Victoria Falls Hotel does. The legacy of the hotel is represented in its affectionately given nickname ‘the grand old lady of Victoria Falls’.

We got the chance to speak with Farai Chima, General Manager at The Victoria Falls Hotel. Having worked for the hotel for a decade and a half, he took over as GM in 2021. At the helm of the hotel, he steered the hotel through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic which saw the closure and reduced operation of the hotel. Now, he oversees the current refurbishment programme which has been designed to develop the hotel ready to meet

The Victoria Falls Hotel

the needs of its guests ready for the hotel’s next century of operation.

The hotel’s refurbishment is being undertaken in phases following budgetary, administrative, and logistical requirements. The first phase has already been completed and has seen bedrooms and suites reopened in the east ‘hammerhead’, as well as the south upstairs floor reaching east from the reception, and the upstairs floor overlooking the hotel’s lawns reaching to the gorge below the falls.

Development activity is expected to continue across both bedroom blocks and public areas well into 2024. The refurbishment aims to bring its guests the same facilities and services as other modern technologically supported hotels while maintaining the hotel’s historic Edwardian-style exterior.

Speaking with Farai Chimba, he said “The imprint of this refurbishment will lie over the hotel for several decades to come, so it is being undertaken with care and flair so that we respect its past and still meet present-day expectations”.

Refurbishment work has seen floors lifted and ceilings removed. It has also seen the crucial 60 | Endeavour Magazine

replacement of cabling, wiring and plumbing pipes, along with stripping brick walls and ensuring that the hotel’s very foundations are fit to serve another century of service. As part of this, some bedrooms have been expanded in size, whilst others have had new privacy walls installed to separate beds from sitting areas. The further refurbishment has seen the removal of baths in place of large shower stalls which are increasingly in demand by most travellers today. So far almost 50 rooms and suites have been refurbished including classic bedrooms, premium bedrooms, classic suites, and super suites.

Even the hotel’s flagship suite has been significantly redeveloped and now hosts two

120 years as Africa’s Best Known Hospitality Venue

bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, lounge and a massive bathroom and shower room – as well as a private hallway to the suite away far away from the hotel’s public areas. The Batoka Suite sits on the upstairs levels with two bedrooms, a lounge and service areas with an equally as spectacular view as the flagship suite, which has also been expanded through the refurbishment to modernize its amenities which is hoped to be especially popular for families travelling together. The design of the refurbishment features new fabrics, stylish new floor tiling, new carpeting and wallpaper pictures showing the Victoria Falls scenery and greenery.

Every aspect of the refurbishment is aimed to optimise space and ensure that its guests receive top-quality service and can rest easy with The Victoria Falls Hotel knowing every effort has been made to make their stay as perfect as possible.

The Victoria Falls Hotel has played host to some of the best-known names in the world of politics, business, show business, sport, arts, culture, and many other areas. Notable visits include Goerge Darwin, who opened the Victoria Falls Bridge in 1905 and is Charles Darwin’s son. Many royals have visited

The Victoria Falls Hotel and perhaps the most famous royal visit was that of the British Royal Family in 1947 when King George VI undertook his tour of southern Africa to thank the people of the region for helping defeat the Axis Powers’ threat in World War 2. Queen Elizabeth, later known as the Queen Mother, and their daughters Princess Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret accompanied the king on their two-month tour and stayed at the hotel for a short break over Easter, enjoying a service at the Chapel.

Over the years, celebrities and tourists alike have descended on The Victoria Falls Hotel from across the globe to take in its Edwardian features and luxury experiences at the site of a beautiful natural wonder. Now, as the hotel enters its next century of operation with major refurbishment and developments well underway, it is set to be ready to serve its guests for the future under the careful guidance of GM Farai Chimba. Ultimately, at The Victoria Falls Hotel, style and grace meet high-tech and convenience, and it is through these qualities that the hotel will continue to thrive for another century.

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EXCELLING IN ENTERTAINMENT MovieTowne chevron-square-right movietowne.com phone-square 1 (868) 627 8277/2002 envelope-square emailinfo@movietowne.com

MovieTowne

Starting as a dream of providing quality family entertainment for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, Chairman Derek A Chin and his fellow co-founders have now brought the cinema experience nationwide through the privately owned cinema chain MovieTowne. The multiplex chain has revolutionized the cinema and entertainment industry of Trinidad and Tobago and is now known as the premier cinema and entertainment complex across the Caribbean.

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pened in 2002, the first MovieTowne location is a state-of-the-art multi-screen cineplex which has elevated the tastes and expectations of people across the region.

The MovieTowne brand has now expanded across three locations, with 2 in Trinidad and 1 in Tobago.

The three multiplex cinemas collectively have 22 screens which celebrate all that cinema has to offer through their elaborately themed décor, latest 2D and 3D technology, Dolby Digital surround sound, and comfortable stadium-style seating amphitheatres. The cinemas boast international cinema standards, whilst also promoting comfort and family fun through its top-quality cinema experiences.

The flagship MovieTowne location is in Port of Spain and promises something for everyone as a one-stop destination for quality entertainment. The MovieTowne complex was designed to be a popular hotspot for dining, shopping, entertainment, and a place to enjoy time with family and friends.

In this mission, MovieTowne is successful, as the complex is known for being a multi-faceted complex facility which is home to many amenities and attractions great for family entertainment.

Therefore, MovieTown continues to lead the way in the entertainment arena as its foundation is built on a desire to never cease developing new and spectacular offerings to give the best possible entertainment offerings to its citizens every day.

At the heart of every development by MovieTown is a real desire to bring the highest standard of entertainment to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Derek Chin outlines this as “My vision has always been to bring the highest standard of an international movie-going experience to Trinibagonians and to open their eyes and imaginations to fun, healthy family entertainment.

After three years of constant research and determination – and with the support of my investors and directors, we preserved and overcame all obstacles. Finally, my dream of MovieTowne became a reality in November 2002”. Consequently, we can see that there is a real passion behind MovieTowne and all its franchises that constantly want to improve and develop their operations to be the most popular entertainment hubs across the Caribbean.

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MovieTowne

Significant developments came when MovieTowne expanded its operations outside of Trinidad and Tobago, opening a MovieTown location in Guyana. The three founders behind MovieTowne, Derek Chin, Winfield Scott and Pierpont Scott all have strong ties to Guyana so developments here were an obvious choice. The company opened a MovieTowne franchise in Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, located near the popular Sea Wall and The University of Guyana in 2016. The complex is located on 10 acres of land and offers an array of attractions and leisure amenities for families and entertainment seekers alike.

As MovieTowne moves towards the future, Derek Chin is looking to his next venture which is set to bring ‘Streets of the World’ to Trinidad and Tobago.

Currently, there are more than 11 acres of prime real estate near the existing MovieTowne flagship complex in Port of Spain, which Chin is looking to transform into the region’s latest entertainment experience called ‘Streets of the World’. This experience will feature iconic themes from each of the major countries which catalysed the culture of Trinidad and Tobago. These include influences from East India to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia, and so all these will be represented and celebrated 66 | Endeavour Magazine

Excelling in Entertainment

in eight connecting streets. In this way, Chin is moving away from solely cinema experiences and looking at the future of entertainment for Trinidad and Tobago.

Streets of the World will portray a carnival street with a modern carnival museum, as an avenue will be dedicated to showcasing the colourful inspiration, music, art, and designs which are a key part of everyday Trinidad and Tobago culture. Along with the streets, will be a modern housing development with views to the water and the city. As part of this massive development, a local theatre will be installed to attract and promote local artists for locals and tourists alike. To aid with the increase in tourism the marine, cruise ship dock, and a local water transport hub are envisioned.

The programme is hoped that soon it will bring masses of international travellers and citizens across Trinidad and Tobago to walk the Streets of the World development.

Overall, we can see that MovieTowne is a company that truly loves to bring the joy of cinema and entertainment to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Started as just a dream by the Chairman, the company has massively expanded to offer a range of cinema experiences, leisure activities and business ventures which are hoping to bring top-quality leisure time to the Caribbean. We look forward to seeing how the MoveTowne enterprise continues to expand across the tourism and leisure market, and as it continues to bring top films from around the world into its ever-expanding cinema chains.

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/traderjacks @traderjacksTT Endeavour Magazine | 67

EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES Sol Melons chevron-square-right www.solmelons.com phone-square 833 438 2765

Sol Melons

Behind Sol Melons is a firm commitment to going above and beyond for its customers to deliver melons which are ripe, fresh, and tasty. This commitment stems largely from the family behind the company that has overseen its operations for generations, bringing the people of North America delicious fruits whilst empowering local communities through its operations. It is Sol Melons’ mission to grow America’s love for melons whilst simultaneously developing the local regions. Therefore, the company continues to develop its practices to bring you fresh produce directly from seed to your table.

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ounded in 1984, Sol Melons began following the family coming together with a shared dream of producing the highest-quality cantaloupes, honeydews, and watermelons for export to the North American market. Since its origins, Sol has uniquely owned and operated its farms which has always given complete visibility and control over the complete growing and distribution process.

Consequently, as the company continued to expand it began growing in Guatemala adding to their current farming land which by 2004 stood at 17,000 acres. A key development came in 2007 when the company joined the Fyffes Family, and so Sol Melons’ operations expanded to be the number one supplier of melons for the whole of North America by 2009. Today, Sol Melons continues to be known for its dedication and passionate approach towards melons, and its central commitment which ensures that every melon is always of exceptional quality.

Sol Melons offers a range of melon varieties including cantaloupes, royal cantaloupes, honeydew melons, honey dude melons, seedless watermelons, mini watermelons and SOLito watermelons. Then, along with the addition of Fyffes, the companies now also offer Gold Pineapples. All produce is harvested at the perfect time to ensure optimal flavour, perfect ripeness, and sweetness so they are always ready to eat when you receive them. This focus on the quality across a variety of melons and other produce ensures that the Sol Melons brand stands exclusively for great fruit from seed to table.

Throughout the agricultural industry, sustainability must always be a top priority, and this is just the case with Sol Melons. The company has deep roots in Honduras and Guatemala and is focused on enriching the lives of its communities whilst also protecting the environment. Consequently, Sol Melons has continued to develop initiatives which are making crucial changes across its growing lands and local communities. These initiatives have included providing clean drinking water to families located around the Sol Melons’ farms, and the donations of water barrels to aid locals with irrigation systems. Sol Melons’ initiatives are essential because they provide crucial irrigation facilities for families who are fully dependent on crops for both income and food.

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Sol Melons

In addition to drinking water and irrigation facilities, Sol Melons is a key employer to locals throughout its range of farms. By providing extensive employment throughout its operations, Sol Melons helps its communities to economically thrive.

Furthermore, Sol Melons provides the opportunity for local families to take part in the sowing and production of corn to help families sustain a living during the off-season. At present, this initiative has provided a source of income to more than 200 families across the surrounding areas of its farms.

The investment of Sol Melons in the future of these growing regions stems from its central focus to develop and give back to the communities that make the Sol Farms successful.

Whilst in-season, Sol Melon also provides its employees with an onsite doctor, comfortable break facilities which include a lounge and kitchen areas, and transportation to and from communities to farms. All of these ensure that every employee feels comfortable, supported, and has access to the farms to earn a living which brings both personal and local development. A crucial step in empowerment

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Empowering Communities

is through investing in youth education. Sol Melons is investing in education for children in its local rural communities. This includes providing healthy school snacks, and the refurbishment and the installation of playgrounds and learning facilities. Additionally, Sol Melons provides scholarships, medical care via school visits, and even partnerships with agronomic universities to provide a ‘hands-on’ learning approach to the agriculture industry.

These investments in education signify Sol Melons’ commitment to developing local communities through employment, health care and education for the continuous economic development of the region.

Overall, when you buy from Sol Melons the familyrun spirit can always be felt, so you can be sure that by choosing to produce from the Sol Melons farms you are also investing in the development of local communities and spurring education for the next generation. One thing that can’t be ignored is that Sol Melons truly exemplifies a passion for a product and for its people, as on its mission to grow America’s love for melons – I think it just might have achieved it!

Endeavour Magazine | 73

PASSIONATE ABOUT PLANTS Costa Farms chevron-square-right costafarms.com

Costa Farms

For Costa Farms, growing plants is firmly a part of its DNA, and has been for over 60 years. The family-run company works to give its customers a whole host of plant varieties best suited to their needs and desires, all grown across the company’s 5,200 acres of land. Consequently. Costa Farms is now one of the largest horticultural growers in the world which is constantly innovating its products to offer customers the same passion for plants which started the company all those years ago.

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osta Farms ‘sprouted’ in 1961 when founder Jose Costa Senior purchased 30 acres of land in the South of Miami. The land allowed him to grow fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes in the winter, and calamondin citrus in the summer. This initial crop development soon saw Costa Farms expand exponentially to grow houseplants such as the Canela tree or Cecilia Aglaonema. Soon, the company morphed into a giant horticultural operation which now grows more than 1,500 varieties of houseplants. However, even now 60 years later, the main priority of Costa Farms is to ensure that it is focusing on developing new collections to make it easier for the customer to grow and keep plants which work for them. This focus on innovation is therefore one of the main driving forces behind Costa Farm’s mission to make plants accessible to everyone.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida Costa Farms grows a range of outdoor tropical plants including Hibiscus and Mandevilla, as well as a whole host of colourful annual bedding plants designed for container gardening and landscaping. Having grown annual flowers for more than 20 years at its Miami headquarters and then in North Carolina, the company expanded into South Carolina where it began developments to offer perennial flowers to retailers in the southeast. In Apopka Florida, Costa Farms has 10 ranges of greenhouses, which is where a large majority of the company’s mother plants are housed and are used for propagating new crops. In Trenton South Carolina, Costa Farms has a significant testing scheme which grows hundreds of varieties of easy-care perennial garden plants. In North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Mountains, Costa Farms has a range of greenhouses which grow annual bedding plants both alone and in planters or hanging baskets which are perfectly designed for decorating your outdoor space.

At Costa Farms, the Trial Garden development has allowed its researchers to develop the best houseplants, annual or perennial flowers and patio plants which are best suited to a range of environments. The testing scheme keeps flowers in the garden for 3 years to determine their performance throughout the seasons to see how they cope with the extreme temperature and weather fluctuation between seasons. Furthermore, across the company’s range of test gardens, it has implemented new growing techniques and pest control solutions to best develop its tools for the future. As part of this, Costa Farms even has its own

insectary raising a range of beneficial insects to control pests without the need for chemicals.

Additionally, a key part of the testing process behind Costa Farms’ successful plants is its top-notch breeding program which gives breeders valuable information on the future of plants as well as information on new varieties across the US. However, Costa Farms has also extended its operations overseas and now owns 1,000 acres of growing land in the Dominican Republic. Here, mother plants are raised for many popular house plant varieties, which much like the operations in Apopka, are crucial for propagating new crops.

A central focus for the company is ensuring that its customers are receiving plants which are best suited to their needs. This is why through Costa Farms you can choose from a range of pre-grouped plants that are put together based on their ability to thrive in certain conditions or those which celebrate certain flower types – such as the Plants of Steel Collection which are growing to withstand neglect, or the Exotic Angels Collection which celebrates tropical flowers. These groups ensure that when

Costa Farms

you buy a plant from Costa Farms you can look over a range of tropical, cacti, succulents, small batch, easy-care, easy grower, low light, indirect sunlight, or direct sunlight options and choose which is best for you. Customers can determine the conditions of where they would like to have a plant, and then use the website to carefully choose a variety which is best suited to these conditions – one way that Costa Farms helps the customer ensure that their plant will thrive.

However, Costa Farms goes one step further, and not only looks at how much water the plants need but, it will also acclimatize the plants to the standard household heat and light levels before they are shipped. This gives every plant grown for indoor use the best chance of survival. As we can see from Costa Farms’ process, they want to ensure that customers continue to get next-level service from the company through the plants by implementing a range of measures to ensure that they thrive in their final homes.

As Costa Farms continues to develop towards the future, they have their very own Plant Hunter, Mike Rimland, who has spent more than 40 years travelling the globe visiting plant breeders, markets, and nurseries searching for things which catch his eye.

Mike and the Costa Farms team are always looking for rare and exotic plants which can be put to the test in the Costa Farm’s gardens to see how they might develop and deal with Costa Farms’ trialling process.

The team are always looking for naturally occurring mutations of crops already thriving in its gardens. For a plant to make it through the testing process, the crop has to pass a 5-step test: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

It needs to be able to successfully grow in the natural conditions at Costa Farms It needs to be easily and efficiently propagated It needs to hold up well in shipping both via trucks to stores and through boxes to customers’ homes It needs to hold up in the average retail store conditions It needs to grow well in the typical home conditions

This strict process ensures that all crops from Costa Farm are filtered through a 5-step process to ensure that they have the best chance of survival in the homes of its customers. The process goes back to the central mission of Costa Farms to 78 | Endeavour Magazine

Passionate about Plants

create winning solutions for its customers by driving profitable growth. Therefore, throughout Costa Farms’ operations, it is dedicated to enriching the world by bringing plants to everyone.

Overall, Costa Farms is committed to delivering top-quality plants for its customers and retailers.

Through its research, development, testing and condition management processes, Costa Farms ensures that all of its plants are designed to work for you. It continues to develop its plant offerings to provide the largest assortment of high-quality plants best suited to fit your style, home conditions and needs. Through Costa Farms’ passion for plants, they continue to focus on knowledge, education, and experience to ensure that plants are accessible to everyone whatever their home conditions may offer. Therefore, it is clear to see that Costa Farm’s passion for plants has remained over the last 60 years throughout the family, and as it continues to develop toward the future. Ultimately, Costa Farms remains a lean, green, growing machine which is dedicated to enriching the world by bringing plants into everyone’s life.

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Endeavour Magazine | 79

Eden Reforestation Projects:

COMMUNITY LEAD SUCCESS

Written by Carley Fallows

The Eden Reforestation Project (Eden) is an international non-profit organisation which is working to restore landscapes on a massive scale. A crucial part of Eden’s work is with local communities because the organisation believes that communities should be at the heart of implementing environmental change and restoration efforts. Currently, Eden has over 241,150 hectares of land under its management across 8 countries. The organisation works with more than 1200 companies and thousands of individual donors to restore forests on a massive scale, which in turn brings the local communities in which it operates employment opportunities, methods to protect ecosystems and mitigation strategies to tackle climate change.

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very single day, teams from Eden are on the ground, working in some of the most remote locations across the globe, with a central mission to facilitate restoration through community development. The organisation brings a collaboration and science-based approach to its restoration practices which work to leave lasting substantial benefits that are uniquely designed to suit each individual community and their needs.

This approach is referred to as a bottom-up approach by Eden as it starts by connecting with local communities to build relationships with the local people and share in how they want their lands to thrive. These communities then work with Eden to implement planting opportunities, community commitments to restoration and forest protection strategies which will effectively overcome the challenges of each specific landscape.

Eden wants to ensure that every technique they implement is easily replicable and has systems that are easily implemented into the current infrastructure of communities. By ensuring the replicability of these practices, Edens’ legacy can be felt across a number of landscapes as their techniques and systems can be repeated by locals to work towards the combined goal of forest restoration and helping reduce climate change.

Eden’s restoration work can be seen across the world with significant projects in Africa and the Americas. In Mozambique, Eden is working with

communities to restore 206,000+ hectares of the Chimanimani National Park and its buffer zone.

The projects are focused on addressing drivers of deforestation and degradation through fire mitigation, as well as conservation of agriculture and agroforestry. As part of its key work in uplifting the local community, Eden has implemented livelihood initiatives which hope to diversify incomes for rural households.

In Kenya, Eden has been restoring over 154,000 hectares of the country’s largest mangrove and coastal inland forests. Eden has worked with communities to establish harvest monitoring and the enforcement of policies in collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service to ensure the mangroves continue to thrive. In terms of community development, Eden has integrated agricultural intensification and agroforest initiatives to improve income and food security for those living adjacent to the forests.

Another significant project for Eden is in Brazil on the Parain Ecological Corridor where it is working to restore more than 67,000 hectares of gallery forests in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes. The organisation is working with local communities to expand the agroforestry industry and develop forest-friendly supply chains for lasting sustainability. Furthermore, Eden is working in collaboration with private landowners to develop restoration plans for the protection of the Areas

of Permanent Preservation and the Legal Reserve Zones.

Overall, the most crucial part of Eden Restoration Projects’ work is its commitment to providing environmental change and economic sustainability.

These two factors work hand-in-hand; to allow local communities to protect their lands, whilst still benefitting from the agriculture opportunities which the landscapes offer. As a global operation, Eden’s work can be seen across Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nepal, the Philippines, Honduras, and Brazil. With such a vast array of landscapes in these countries, especially with many projects based in extremely rural areas, Eden focuses on listening to local people and finding solutions which work uniquely for them and their land. Therefore, the success of Eden’s initiatives is its commitment to community-driven projects, as by working with locals it has achieved great success in protecting and restoring landscapes.

https://www.edenprojects.org/ Endeavour Magazine | 81

MINING FOR PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S FUTURE OK Tedi Mining Limited chevron-square-right oktedi.com/ phone-square +675 649 3000

OK Tedi Mining Limited

As a 100% Papua New Guinea-owned mining company, OK Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) is the longest-running copper, gold, and silver producer through its operation in the Star Mountains of the North Fly District in the Western Province. Holding a portfolio of several exploration leases, OTML is extensively involved in the community and development of Papua New Guinea which inputs a range of funding through Tax Credit Schemes and other infrastructure projects to develop the West Province region.

Consequently, throughout the mining operation at the OK Tedi Mine, there is a keen focus on maximising the value of the region’s mineral resources for the benefit of the local community via responsible mining which delivers economic and social benefits to the people of Papua New Guinea.

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ining in the Star Mountain region dates back to 1963 when copper mineralisation was first identified near the current OK Tedi mine site. However, it wasn’t until 1981 that OTML was incorporated as an entity from a resulting partnership between BHP, the Papua New Guinea Government, Amoco Corporation, and Inmet Mining Corporation. Mining operations under OTML commenced in 1984, first as a gold mine to exploit the gold-rich cap on the Mount Fubilan deposit in the Star Mountains. Then in 1987, it operated as a copper-gold mine for the bulk of the ore body. As of 2021, OTML was a fully owned PNG company following OMTL buying out Inmet Mining Corporation.

By 2013, OMTL was fully state-owned with a 67% direct shareholding by the Independent State of PNG, with the people of the West Province holding the remaining 33% interest. Therefore, the mine operation is wholly owned by Papua New Guinea, which means that 100% of the benefits from its operations are distributed to the people of the Western Province and the State. Since its establishment in 1984, OTML has contributed on average 6.2% of Papua New Guinea’s annual Gross Domestic Product, due to the 5.17 megatons (Mt) of copper, 15.9 million ounces (Moz) of gold and 34.4 Moz of silver.

Mining at the Ok Tedi Mine takes Mt. Fubilan Ore Reserves from the mine’s large open pit which operates using conventional drill and blast techniques to access the ores. The current pit design and pit sequencing have been expertly designed to maximise the value of the ore. After the ore is mined it is processed onsite through its onsite floatation processing plant which has the capacity to treat 2.4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). At present, 60 thousand tonnes of ore are mined each day and delivered to the mill. Once the primary ore is mined, it is then crushed and ground using Semi-Autogenous Grinding and Ball mills to a final grain size of approximately 180 microns.

Then, through a conventional flotation circuit, the finely ground material is treated to extract the copper, gold, and silver as a copper concentrate. Additionally, a portion of gold is separated using a gravity gold circuit.

OTML has the Tailing Pyrite Plants (TPP) which is used to separate iron sulphides (pyrites) from the concentrator tailings. Once separated, the concentrates are then piped 156 kilometres south

towards the Kiunga port facilities which are located on the Fly River. Here, the material is dried, stored, and shipped by barge down the Fly River to a storage vessel which is anchored in Port Moresby’s Fairfax Harbour. As we can see, OTML’s operation is a complex but entirely robust system which works in step with the surrounding landscape to effectively move and separate the material to make the most of the ore resources for OTML, and then utilise the waterways to transport this material towards vessels where it can be prepared for markets.

Furthermore, a key focus for OTML is its role in developing the local area and its operations to benefit the environment and surrounding community rather than be a considerable detriment to it. A crucial development for OTML is its OK Menga which is a hydroelectric run-off-river scheme which supplies about 75% of the project’s energy requirements with a maximum output of 57 megawatts (MW). Additionally, OTML has significant developments in Yuk Creek with the Tabubil Thermal Power station, which has a total combined installed capacity of 63MW which is used to supplement its hydroelectric power generation and meet the balance of power demand across the operation and for the surrounding region.

OK Tedi Mining Limited

OTML’s keen focus on the use of renewable energy highlights the company’s central commitment to a sustainable future to develop the future of Papa New Guinea. By developing its power output through these green sources, the company can lead the way toward a future that can both benefit from naturally occurring ore, whilst respecting and protecting the planet as much as possible.

Furthermore, to ensure that the mine operations are benefitting the local communities of the mine complex, OTML has invested over 3 billion kinas into reducing the long-term impact on the river system including the removal of pyrite from tailings. In addition, OTML monitors limestone waste rock and participates in tailings to maintain the alkalinity of the river system and the dredging of sands from the riverbed downstream from the mine at Bige.

OTML works to provide benefits for the local community through employment, education, health, local business, dividends, taxes and royalties, goods and services, tax credit scheme projects, training, capacity building, as well as economic and social development programs.

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Mining for Papua New Guinea’s Future

OTML has developed a comprehensive community relations system which respects human rights and local cultures. The system includes comprehensive annual communication and information patrols to the 158 villages, as well as the timely resolution of complaints and grievances. Therefore, OTML remains committed to ensuring that whilst being the largest employer in the Western Province and one of the largest in the whole of Papua New Guinea through its operations prioritises excellence to maximise the value of mined minerals through responsible practices to deliver sustainable economic and social benefits to everyone involved.

As OTML moves towards the future, a central development is the Townsville Prospect which is located roughly 4 kilometres north of the OK Tedi processing plant and is the most advanced exploration project for the company. The Townsville Prospect comprises a near-surface high-grade gold hydrothermal mineralisation and fault breccia’s grading up to 60g/t gold and deeper copper-gold calc-silicate skarns. The copper-gold mineralisation at Townsville extends laterally across 500m and

vertically for roughly 600m. New geological models for the site have been developed as a result of the discovery of deeper copper, gold and silver skarn mineralisation through the recent drilling programs.

Therefore, the continued development of mining resources in Papa New Guinea looks set to expand over the coming years even with just this prospect, which through OTML’s strict operations should bring continued economic and social development for the country for years to come.

Ultimately, OTML plays a significant role in the mining industry, and an even bigger one in Papa New Guinea as it provides a considerable amount of employment and development opportunities for the local communities. As the company expands into further exploration areas such as the Townsville Prospect, OTML’s reputation continues to strengthen as a mine operator that not only wants to develop the local region but wants to respect the land from which it mines to make the most of the mined ore and does not result in excessive waste or damage.

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INVESTING IN MINING EDUCATION Kamloops Exploration Group chevron-square-right www.keg.bc.ca phone-square 250 320 2411 envelope-square kamloopsexplorationgroup@gmail.com

Kamloops Exploration Group

Mining in Canada is a vast and significant industry which contributes significantly towards the country’s economy. Consequently, the mining industry is one of the largest employers across Canada, which today has developed to be a leading mining hub on an international scale. However, with the continued development of this industry due to the rich mineral, metal, and petroleum deposits across the country, there have been ever-increasing concerns over the sustainability of such finite resources, and the impact of the industry on its local environments. Therefore, Kamloops Exploration Group (KEG) are leading the way to protect and promote the interests of the mining and prospecting of minerals, metals and petroleum across the country whilst implementing investments in education towards the continuous sustainability of such a sector. .

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ed by an elected board of 9 volunteer members, KEG is a registered non-profit society which promotes and supports the interests of the mining industry. Situated in the westernmost district of British Columbia, KEG focuses primarily on how education and knowledge are cornerstones for overcoming the challenges and adversities that are faced on a daily basis across the mining industry. It believes that if it can provide education and allow the industry to learn how to overcome such difficulties the mining industry can remain a protected and sustainable development for years to come.

A crucial way that KEG provides education and networking in the industry is through its annual KEG Conference and Trade Show. The first inaugural KEG Conference took place 36 years ago and was led by a small group of dedicated individuals who were passionate about providing a necessary platform to discuss the industry and create space for positive networking opportunities. Today the conference

90 | Endeavour Magazine

has vastly expanded and sees numerous individuals and businesses across the industry come together to provide key information sharing. The upcoming conference is set to take place next year in April between the 9th and 10th at the Coast Kamloops Hotel and Conference Centre. The conference will provide key players across the industry a platform for networking perfect for connecting prospectors, geologists, suppliers, manufacturers, and outreach across Canada’s mining sector.

The conferences also allow KEG to generate profits which it reinvests back into its educational programs, along with efforts from the board and KEG memberships. Over the last decade, KEG has been able to deliver a very well-regarded outreach program due to this funding, and currently invests $35,000 per year, along with countless volunteer hours, to deliver educational activities. These activities include a public lecture series which since 2003 has delivered a range of lectures to promote the interests of mining, earth sciences and mineral exploration. The lectures were made virtual in 2021, allowing even greater accessibility to education across the mining industry. The lectures can also be tailored to age groups, making education on these topics accessible to everyone.

In addition to its public lecture series, KEG also has Ask-A-Geologist, Geocaching, School Visits, Adopt a Geologist, Support for School Trips, Junior and Senior Delegate programs, Kamloops GEO Tours, Scholarships, Grants to other organisations, Introductory Prospective Courses, Liaison with other organisation and educational display events and programs to continue to develop and provide education across the industry for the benefit of the next generation of mining.

Therefore, KEG brings significant change through education and networking to develop the industry towards even greater success and build an even stronger future for Canada’s diverse mining industry. KEG plays a significant role in upholding the country’s supportive regulatory environment which includes agreements between mining companies, indigenous communities and governments to ensure that the mining industry is working to develop the economy, industry and local communities towards a future of success and sustainability.

Overall, KEG’s significant focus on education and networking has vastly benefitted the mining industry of Canada and continues to be a model of what shared knowledge can bring the industry on an international scale. KEG is working to establish the next generation of mining that is responsible and overcomes current challenges of the sector whilst protecting the local communities in which it operates. Through these values, combined with honouring the values of the mined mineral reserves, KEG is leading the way in providing education that truly promotes and protects the interest of the mining and prospecting of minerals, metals, and petroleum industries.

AKF MINING SERVICES INC.

Adding Value to your Mineral Resource Geological Modeling • Grade Estimation Mine Design and Planning • Pit Optimizations Ore Resource/Reserve Evaluations High Level Reviews • Scoping Studies PEA, 43-101, S-K 1300, JORC info@akfmining.com • Vancouver, BC, Canada

www.akfmining.com

LEADING VANADIUM PRODUCERS Vanadium Resources Limited chevron-square-right vr8.global/ phone-square 08 6158 9990 envelope-square contact@vr8.global

Vanadium Resources Limited

Mining is an incredibly rich industry in South Africa and as such has significant developments in gold and copper across the country. However, vanadium is a rare but hard element that is often found alongside minerals within crucial deposits in South Africa.

The most common use of Vanadium is in the formation of alloys due to its corrosion-resistant nature. Therefore, mining this rare element has become a central exploration venture for the country, seeing key developments such as the Steelpoortdrift Mining Project (SMP), facilitated by Vanadium Resources Limited (VR8), expand across South Africa’s mining industry.

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s a junior vanadium developer, VR8 currently owns 74% of the world-class, tier 1, Steelpoortdrift Vanadium project in the Limpopo province of South Africa. VR8 leads the way across the vanadium market with its Steelpoordrift Mining project (SMP) which is the world’s largest vanadium deposit, with an indicated and inferred Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve of 612Megatons (Mt) at 0.75% V2O5 in situ. The deposit is an openpit titaniferous magnetite deposit, located in the prolific Bushveld Geological Complex - a known mineral and vanadium-producing area. VR8’s project is within the reach of 7 processing plants, railway and road options, ports, and a range of utilities. A definitive feasibility study (DFS) of the project undertaken in 2022 confirmed the worldclass nature of the deposit which is expected to have robust economics over an initial 25-year mine of life.

Having completed the DFS, VR8 is working towards Final Investment Decisions which would focus on building the project development and execution team to get the maximum value out of the project through a range of FEED, debt financing and partnerships with strategic groups.

Consequently, VR8 is working towards attaining 86.49% ownership of the project, which, subject to completion, is set to be achieved by the end of this year. Vanadium is now listed as a critical mineral in many countries, for which VR8 is a leader across its development. Through its key ownership of the SMP, VR8 is a clear leader amongst its development peers and looks to provide a much-needed supply to global markets.

Once in production, VR8 will explore the full range of vanadium products, particularly the vertical integration opportunities of vanadium into downstream markets.

The SMP comprises the open-pit mining of titaniferous vanadium ore, primary treatment of the ore through an onsite concentrator (using magnetic separation) and secondary treatment of the concentrate through a Salt Roast Leach (SRL) plant to produce a >98% V2O5 flake. The project will have two phases; the first phase will be the initial pre-production capex of USD 211 million, which will provide the infrastructure and will operate for the first four years. This phase involves the mining of 1.6 94 | Endeavour Magazine

Mt of vanadium ore per year, which will be processed through the concentrator and SRL plants to produce 12ktpa of V2O5 flake.

The second phase of the project will see VR8 take USD 188 million from the cash flow to expand the plant and allow for the quantity of flake produced to almost double to 21ktpa. The DFS identified a number of significant opportunities that would reduce costs and increase the potential Mineral Resources, Ore Reserves and the associated life of mine (LOM) to more than 180 years, whilst also decreasing the environmental impacts and increasing the total earning potential of the project.

Therefore, having completed the DFS and upon completion of the Final Investment Decision set for Q4 CY2023, VR8 is committed to building its project development and execution team, beginning FEED studies, securing debt financing, and partnering with strategic groups to ensure that the maximum value of the project can be unlocked. Consequently, in February this year, Alex Oehmen joined the VR8 team as the General Manager of Operations bringing with him many years of experience as an industry

veteran. The new General Manager will be set on driving the development and operations of VR8’s Steelpoordrift Vanadium Project towards a future of vanadium implementation across industries.

However, the SMP project is not the only mining operation that VR8 undertakes, it also has the Quarts Bone Project located in the West Pilbara province in Western Australia. The project comprises a single granted exploration license and covers an area of approximately 15km2 which has identified key copper, zinc, and lead occurrences. Key developments in this project have been through the discovery of new volcanogenic massive sulphides.

Vanadium Resources Limited

Exploration at the Quarts Bone Project to date has generated the Balla Balla, West Balla, and East Balla base of metal prospects which are located within a sequence of dacitic lava and volcanoclastic sediments and shales.

At present, Balla Balla is the most advanced prospect with drilling intersecting widespread zones of zinc-lead-copper mineralisation along a 600-metre strike length and down drip to a depth of 250m below the surface. VR8 is set to explore the project further over the coming years with the aim of evaluating the advanced Balla Balla Prospect and the surrounding prospects. These prospects may determine the potential for mining operations and identify additional economic mineralisation.

As the world moves towards a greener future, South Africa is expected to play a significant role in global battery value chains by 2030. This is because the global battery value chain has the potential for 10-15GWH for domestic demand with battery energy storage. The country’s battery storage market could reach 9,700Mwh of demand and 10,400Mwh in the wider South African region by 2030 which is a significant increase from just a few hundred Mwh in 2020. Therefore, the growing demand for vanadium for use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) 96 | Endeavour Magazine

allows VR8 to play a significant role in assisting the world via battery supply chains towards a future of renewable energy. VR8 will explore the full range of Vanadium products that are possible including vanadium trioxide, ferrovanadium, titanium dioxide, and ilmenite. These explorations will allow VR8 to understand the potential of its Steelpoordrift deposit and move towards the vertical integration of vanadium into downstream markets through electrolyte, VRFB manufacturing and energy generation for a greener future.

Overall, VR8 are a key player in the world of vanadium as it operates the world’s largest vanadium deposit positioning the company in a crucial position ready to tackle the vast array of markets which vanadium is being adopted into.

As such a vital element, its use across renewable battery options, sees the future of the company look very bright as the demand for vanadium is set to increase as the world moves evermore towards green energy. We look forward to seeing how VR8’s role in global supply chains continues to develop as its mine operation at the Steelpoordrift project continues to expand.

Leading Vanadium Producers

Our Innovative Approach to Developing a World Class Vanadium Deposit An effective Resource-to-market strategy is key to the development of mineral assets.

Sound Mining’s ethos is to adopt an agile approach when addressing the challenges of the technical, social, environmental, economic and strategic aspects of a mining project.

The dynamic nature of the global minerals industry requires constant reassessment for optimal and sustained alignment with a company’s strategic objectives.

Corporate advisory Resource and Reserve estimates, strategy, valuations

This is exemplified by Vanadium Resources’ Steelpoortdrift project, where Sound Mining looks forward to assisting with the management of the execution of this project by working closely with the owner’s team so that they are able to navigate project uncertainty with the necessary flexibility.

Starting with the end in mind and having the capacity to perform in an agile manor, has played a key role in the development of this project.

General enquiries +27 11 234 7152 info@soundmining.com

Technical expertise Exploration, geosciences, optimisation, mine design, scheduling Social and environmental Community engagement, regulatory, environmental sciences

soundmining.com

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