The biggest vessel-ordering program since the eve of the global financial crisis is putting a squeeze on the shipbuilding industry’s capacity to construct new vessels. Owners plowed more than $188-billion into newbuilds in the first 11 months of the year, on course for the strongest pace in terms of both value and capacity since 2007, [...]

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday assented to the National Nuclear Regulator Amendment Bill, which provides for nuclear safety oversight, ranging from the decontamination of defence facilities to airline pilot safety. The Amendment Bill amends the National Nuclear Regulator Act of 1999 to align it with current international regulatory best practices as determined by the International Atomic [...]

State-owned power utility Eskom has reported a R25.5-billion loss before tax for the financial year ending March 31, 2024, following a year marked by operational setbacks, financial strain and systemic inefficiencies. With 329 days of loadshedding and heavy reliance on costly open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) during the 2024 financial year, along with escalating municipal debt, the [...]

New York- and Toronto-listed Barrick Gold Corporation on Wednesday, December 18, confirmed that its operating entities in Mali, namely Société des Mines de Loulo SA and Société des Mines de Gounkoto SA, have submitted a request for arbitration to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, in accordance with the provisions of their [...]

Distressed JSE-listed sugar producer Tongaat Hulett has announced that it will sell all its assets and operating businesses in South Africa to Vision Sugar South Africa. The purchase price for Tongaat Hulett's South African assets will be the fair market value determined by an appointed independent valuer, whose decision, absent any manifest error, shall be [...]

Investment company Futuregrowth Asset Management has invested R150-million in small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) finance and specialist supply chain support financial technology (fintech) company Sourcefin. Sourcefin works to bridge the critical R300-billion gap in SMME financing and empowers businesses to overcome working capital challenges and successfully fulfil public and private sector purchase orders, which are [...]

Industry regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has approved mobile network operator Telkom's R6.75-billion disposal of its Swiftnet business, which houses its masts and towers business. The decision obtained from Icasa on December 13 results in a change of control of Swiftnet’s licences and fulfils one of the suspensive conditions for the [...]

Blyvoor gold mine, the restarted underground Witwatersrand gold mine west of Johannesburg, is on the way back up. South African mining company Aurous Resources reported on Monday, December 17, that rising gold prices and Blyvoor’s improved operational performance has increased the Carletonville mine’s operating profit by 59%.

The final assay results from diamond drill holes completed to test strike and down-dip extensions of the high-grade copper mineralisation at the Flat Mine South deposit, part of the Okiep Copper Project in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The latest results add further momentum to mine development company Orion Mineral’s development strategy for the Okiep [...]

From the moment Mpho Putsoenyane's daughter Hlompho was born in Zamdela, a South African township beside the smokestacks and gas flares of Sasol's oldest coal-to-liquid refinery, the baby struggled to breathe. Last year, when she was four months old, she turned purple and started gasping. Her parents rushed the baby to hospital, where medics only [...]

South Africa recorded foreign direct investment outflows of 3.2-billion rand ($179.87-million) in the third quarter, compared to inflows of 16.6-billion in the second quarter, central bank data showed on Friday. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its Quarterly Bulletin that the outflows were due to domestic subsidiaries of multinational companies paying back their [...]

Some of the issues that newly elected South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) president for 2025 Friedrich Slabbert will focus on are advancing professionalism in the construction sector and helping to ensure resilient infrastructure. During the inauguration of the organisation’s new president, prior president for 2024 Andrew Clothier listed the most prominent challenges in the [...]