A study by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) finds that an above-inflation increase in the Health Promotion Levy (HPL), or sugar tax, would put 6 000 farm-level jobs and 3 000 small-scale growers at risk in the sugarcane industry between this year and 2025. South African Sugar Association (SASA) CEO Trix Trikam says the [...]

Mining companies are developing and deploying strategies to reduce climate-related risks in the locations where mines are situated, and the ability for gold mines to self-generate power on a practical scale from solar plants is helping to create a viable source of skills and infrastructure that will benefit other sectors, says market development organisation World [...]

Recent government policies, such as the US's Inflation Reduction Act and the European Union’s proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, demonstrate the growing need for critical raw materials through to the end of the decade and beyond, necessitating fresh investment in both primary supply and recycling, said Glencore CEO Gary Nagle on Wednesday, when the diversified mining [...]

With a week to go before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables his budget in Parliament, two global credit ratings agencies have warned of SA's deteriorating risk profile due to the impact of prolonged electricity cuts on the economy.  On Wednesday, Fitch ratings said that while it had anticipated the power cuts would continue into 2023, [...]

Financial services firm Nedbank has appointed Daniel Mminele as an independent nonexecutive director and chairperson-designate for the Nedbank Group and Nedbank Limited companies. His appointment as an independent nonexecutive director of the companies will be effective from May 1, while he will be elected as chairperson immediately following the conclusion of the Nedbank Group annual [...]

Global spending on electric vehicles (EVs) is surging. According a new report published by BloombergNEF on investment in the energy transition, annual spending on passenger EVs hit $388-billion in 2022, up 53% from the year before. With the 2022 tally included, the total value of electric vehicles sold to date in the passenger vehicle segment [...]

Achieving a circular economy would require much more efficient mining and processing, much more recycling of metals, much more reprocessing and recycling of mine waste, particularly tailings dumps and dams. So highlighted Finnish Geological Survey organisation GTK Circular Economy Solutions Unit Head Jouko Nieminen in an interview with Mining Weekly Online, at a fringe event [...]

The firm embrace of the new green hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell future by China and India is a huge twin boost for Southern Africa’s great platinum group metals (PGMs) endowment, Mining Weekly can today report. Hydrogen technologies have a special relevance for South Africa as most of the PGMs that are needed for the [...]

Trade union Solidarity on February 14, during a media conference, shared details of its litigation about the recent declaration of a State of Disaster over the electricity crisis. The matter is due to be heard in the Pretoria High Court on March 14.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has doubled down on his characterisation of the proposed Minister of Electricity as that of a project manager but has denied that such a portrayal reduces the authority of the appointee. In a speech made in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, in which [...]

JSE-listed Telkom has reported a 13.5% decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to R2.49-billion during the three months ended December 31, 2022. Telkom’s Ebitda margin contracted 4.1 percentage points to 22.6%.

The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has welcomed the declaration of a State of Disaster over the country’s energy crisis, and it hopes to play a central role in the process. In an exclusive interview with Polity following last week’s State of the Nation Address tabled by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Salga president Bheke Stofile said [...]