Stories: Investment
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Inside Bolivia’s long struggle to unlock the world’s largest lithium supply
At the heart of South America, the long-struggling nation of Bolivia sits atop an unlikely gold mine: the world’s largest lithium reserves. It’s been nearly a decade since the Bolivian government first set out to capitalize on this precious natural resource. Yet while the booming tech industry has recently sent lithium prices soaring, Bolivia appears to...
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Inside the Amazing Chinese-Built Luxury Hotel in the Capital of One of the World’s Poorest Countries
Food options are limited in northern Niger, but one dietary staple is readily available just about everywhere I went in the vast, landlocked West African country. From remote highway rest stops to the sidewalks in front of the ministry buildings in downtown Niamey, entire sides of lamb sit cooking for hours, fat crackling under meaty columns of smoke. A...
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An Oil Dispute in Niger Is Exposing Big Problems With Chinese Investment in Africa
On August 14, a compressor failed at the Soraz oil refinery near Zinder, Niger, crippling one of the very few pieces of industrial infrastructure in one of the poorest countries in the world. The thing is, there may never have been a compressor blowout. According to multiple energy-industry sources who spoke with Business Insider, the shutdown of the Soraz...
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Top Russian Officials Are Starting to Realize That the Country’s Economy Is in Big Trouble
You wouldn’t know it from the Chanel boutiques and Maserati dealerships lining the boulevards inside Moscow’s Garden Ring, but economic conditions in Russia are becoming dire. The ruble has weakened to record lows not seen since the 1990s, capital is bleeding out of the country for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, and the economy...