Drogba buys stake in a gold mine

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has bought a 5% stake in a gold mine in his home country, Ivory Coast, the west African country’s communications minister Bruno Kone said.

Drogba has won popular support for his humanitarian work back home, including efforts to foster reconciliation between northern rebels and southern government loyalists.

Kone said the Ity mine deal was intended to boost investment in the mine, “which had begun to decline due to a lack of resources”.

State mining group Sodemis giving up 14 pc of its 44 pc stake, allowing Canadian miner La Mancha to raise its stake to 55 pc from 46 pc in the mine and Drogba getting the remaining 5%. The Ity mine is in the west near the border with Liberia and is the country’s oldest gold mine.

Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa grower, is trying to expand its mining industry, left underdeveloped for decades as the government concentrated its efforts on its agricultural commodities sector.

The financial details of the deal have not been revealed.