The Republic of Guinea has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Russian State-owned nuclear energy and technology group Rosatom to explore the use of sea-based floating nuclear reactors to generate electricity for the coastal West African country. The MoU was signed at last week’s St Petersburg International Economic Forum, in Russia. “The cooperation involves [...]

Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has concluded a R1-billion term funding facility for the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa. The funding will support the IDC in its mandate to promote industrial capacity, foster an inclusive economy and maximise development impact across various sectors, as well as assist the State-owned entity to [...]

JSE-listed chemicals group Omnia has reported a 10% decrease in operating profit to R1.7-billion for the financial year ended March 31, saying this reflected volatile market conditions and global economic strain. Net profit, however, increased by 1% to R1.16-billion, while earnings a share increased by 2% year-on-year to 705c.

One hydrogen haul truck eliminates the deleterious carbon emissions of the equivalent of 700 cars, First Mode global hydrogen sourcing director James Betts highlighted during this week’s World Hydrogen Australia webinar, where he spoke of the need for the hydrogen haul trucks to be conceived as bringing about a holistic decarbonisation of many aspects of [...]

While South Africa has made considerable strides in addressing mine water challenges, several areas require improvement and focus to ensure that the country continues on a positive trajectory and that the future landscape of the local mining industry is vastly improved. Such areas include ensuring that the correct processes are in place, aligning implementation with [...]

A second renewable-energy project has been announced for heavy mineral sands extraction and refining company Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), which mines in northern KwaZulu-Natal and produces materials used in a wide range of everyday products, from paints to smartphones. In 2022, the Rio Tinto group company signed a renewables agreement with Voltalia for the Bolobedu [...]

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane has rebuffed persistent suggestions that the utility is keeping loadshedding at bay owing to an “excessive” reliance on the diesel-fuelled open cycle gas turbines, reporting that it spent R285-million on diesel during May compared with R2.8-billion in the same month last year and against a budget for the month of R1.7-billion. [...]

State-owned Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has welcomed the recent arrest and conviction of four men for theft of essential infrastructure on its rail network. The Thabazimbi Regional Court on May 31 sentenced the four men to 49 years each for various charges related to the theft of essential infrastructure from the railway line between Northam [...]

Investment in clean energy technologies will climb to $2-trillion this year, almost double the amount spent on fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Two-thirds of the record $3-trillion invested in energy sources in 2024 will be devoted to sectors such as renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage and efficiency, even as [...]

State-owned power utility Eskom reports that one of the two accused suspects in a case involving critical infrastructure tampering has been convicted at the Kriel Magistrate Court and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. The two suspects were arrested on February 24, 2022, on suspicion of stealing copper bars and installed copper at a substation in [...]

Platinum group metal (PGM) is once again coming to the fore as a mineral resource that goes the extra mile in protecting a threatened global environment. The latest indispensable commodity that is poised to be shielded by PGM, which has been safeguarding the air of cities from vehicle exhaust fumes for many decades, is drinking [...]

Environmental activist nonprofit organisation the Green Connection has taken the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to court in an effort to “force” them to supply key information regarding the Karpowership deals. Karpowership uses powerships, or floating power plants, that can anchor at ports and [...]