Senegal

• Country summary
• Permits
• Exploration programme
• Exploration results

Country summary

General information

The Republic of Senegal is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. The Gambia lies almost entirely within Senegal, surrounded on the north, east and south; from its western coast. The Gambia's territory follows the Gambia River more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) inland. Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cape Verde Peninsula on the country's Atlantic coast.

Government organisation

Various European powers - Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain - competed for trade in the area from the 15th century onwards, until 1677, when France ended up in possession of what had become an important slave trade departure point. In January 1959, Senegal and the french Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation. Senegal became fully independent on 20 June 1960.

In the presidential election of 2000 Senegal experienced its second peaceful transition of power, and the first from one political party to another.

Senegal is a republic with a powerful presidency; the president is elected every seven years, amended in 2001 to every five years, by universal adult suffrage. The current president is Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected in March 2007.

Senegal has more than 80 political parties. The bicameral parliament consists of the National Assembly, which has 120 seats, and the Senate, which has 100 seats and was re-instituted in 2007. An independent judiciary also exists in Senegal. The nation's highest courts that deal with business issues are the constitutional council and the court of justice, members of which are named by the President.

Mining industry

The Senegal oil industry is one of the key elements in the economy of the country. While the upstream potential of the country has yet to be fully assessed, the downstream oil industry is well-developed. There is an oil refinery at Dakar and many of the major international oil companies have a presence in the country. Senegal's mining industry is a small but important contributor to the country's GDP and is an important source of export earnings.

The mining industry is regulated by the Ministry of Mines. Under Senegal’s mining code, general prospecting requires a simple authorisation by the Director of Mines. Exploration permits are granted for three years and can be renewed twice, with each renewal lasting not longer than three years. Agreements are negotiated between the parties to define the basic conditions of exploration and the key terms for exploitation. After minerals are discovered through exploration, the holder of the exploration permit has absolute priority when applying for an exploitation permit or a mining concession. Exploitation licences last five years and can be renewed every five years. A mining concession has a duration of 25 years and is renewable for 25 years. There has recently been an initiative to standardise the mining tax arrangements of a number of Francophone West African states. This means that Senegal will offer the same fiscal exploration package as Mali.

Trasnafrika permit areas

Items	Discussion
Geological	Extensive prospecting for gold by major companies occurs in south-east Senegal, the seat of the Kedougou-Kenieba inlier of the Birimian gold belt that borders Mali.
Climate	Tropical; hot, humid; rainy season (May to November) has strong southeast winds; dry season (December to April) dominated by hot, dry, harmattan wind.
Social	Moderate population density. Senegal is primarily an agricultural country, but industry in the cities, especially Dakar, is growing.
Political	Having gone through a considerable period of democratic consolidation, the issue of constitutional concessions and the handling of post-election unrest as well as catering for the interest of various political, economic and social groupings became increasingly relevant in terms of good governance.
Legal	With the new mining code, Senegal has a modern legislation. This code is aimed at redeveloping the mine sector.
Environmental	Initially, surface disturbance will be minimal.
Security	Banditry occurs with some regularity on the main highways after dark, particularly in the central and eastern areas of Senegal.