Africa recorded a 9% year-on-year increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects this year, albeit still 22% below prepandemic levels from 2019, EY Africa’s latest yearly ‘Africa Attractiveness 2024’ report shows. This growth contributed to the creation of more than 205 000 jobs, supported by a $164-billion capital investment across 798 projects.

Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company, the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF), managed by Ninety One, acted as a coanchor investor, alongside IFC and Proparco, in IHS Holding’s $1.2-billion issuance to support digital connectivity in Africa. The bond was oversubscribed in excess of $2.3-billion, and upsized to $1.2-billion, enabling increased participation from private [...]

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the city has declared a formal intergovernmental dispute owing to what it calls the “unconstitutional and unlawful” District Development Model regulations, which came into effect in May this year under the Intergovernmental Relations Framework (IGFR) Act. In a letter to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) [...]

While the new climate finance goal of $300-billion a year from developed nations to support developing nations' energy transition by 2035 agreed at the twenty-ninth  Conference of the Parties (COP29) and the aim to mobilise an additional $1.3-trillion a year from other finance sources are positive, they are far below the estimated $3-trillion a year [...]

JSE-listed real estate investment trust Fairvest has reported a 5% year-on-year increase in its distributable income to R707-million for the financial year ended September 30, compared with distributable income of R673-million in the prior year. Net property income of R1.18-billion in the reporting year compares with net property income of R1.13-billion in the prior year, having [...]

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the intense set of consultations on an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity held by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy this week; the big themes that have emerged as part of the processing of updating the IRP; the response, thus far, to the updated IRP; and [...]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that it is partnering with Anglo American, and in particular the latter’s Crop Nutrients business, to undertake research intended to counter soil salinisation. Or, in other words, to prevent the salt content of soil increasing, to halt it where it was occurring, and to reverse it. This [...]

While State-owned electricity utility Eskom produces more than 34-million tons of coal ash a year, only 7% to 10% is beneficiated, with the remaining material accumulating in dumps scattered across Gauteng, the Free State and Mpumalanga, where it poses a significant environmental threat. The University of the Western Cape Department of Chemistry’s Professor Leslie Petrik [...]

Developing gold mining company West Wits Mining, which is reinvigorating the gold mining prospects west Johannesburg with its Witwatersrand Basin Project (WBP), on Thursday November 28 announced the appointment of West Wits Mining COO Rudi Deysel as the CEO to lead the execution of what is a timely phase for West Wits to deliver Qala [...]

Mozambique’s main border crossing with South Africa was blocked for a second day on Thursday due to political unrest, the highway concessionaire said. Renewed demonstrations after last month’s elections have led to road closures in Mozambique’s capital, as well as repeated disruptions at the Ressano Garcia border crossing, which South Africa’s mines use to move [...]

Speakers participating in the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection’s (Mistra’s) ninth yearly platinum group metals (PGM) roundtable, on November 27, agreed that South Africa has potential to become a leading player in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. By developing capacities, the country can become an indispensable part of the whole hydrogen value chain from mining of minerals [...]

Private investment company Menar, which is awaiting Competition Commission approval following its bid for the large Metalloys ferromanganese facility in Meyerton, is looking to restart at least two of the four furnaces on the site of what was once the world’s largest ferromanganese production facility before being shut in 2020. Bringing two furnaces back online [...]