Pretoria-based Hoërskool Waterkloof learner Christiaan Bauman won the fourth prize in the engineering category at the 2019 Taiwan International Science Fair, which was held from January 26 to February 1. Bauman’s project, titled ‘Mine Safety – The Robotic Way’, addresses the problem of miners and civilians being threatened or lost in subterrains, such as caves.

A dispute over JSE-listed Jasco Electronic’s majority ownership of Reflex Solutions by the fairly new addition’s minority shareholders is heading for arbitration. Jasco in November warned shareholders in its 2018 annual financial statements that the minority shareholders of Reflex Solutions have raised a legal dispute with Jasco regarding the majority ownership of the company.

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has expressed concern about progress in beneficiating minerals, while Eskom is still battling. “If we don’t sort out Eskom problems, we are going to be in trouble with beneficiation. There must be an arrangement for certain categories of customers for an electricity price.”

Aveng and Strabag International on Thursday reasserted that the Aveng-Strabag Joint Venture (ASJV) had terminated the Mtentu river bridge contract as a result of force majeure, adding in a statement that the termination “had nothing to do with either of the ASJV members’ financial ability to perform their obligations”. Contesting allegations by Sanral that the [...]

JSE-listed Brimstone Investment Corporation is reviewing its participation in the proposed buyout of Clover Industries, following an outcry by human rights and Palestine solidarity organisation BDS South Africa. Clover and Brimstone separately reported on Monday that Milco SA – a new company formed by a consortium of international investors, black-controlled Brimstone Investment Corporation and the [...]

State-owned Transnet and Botswana Railways have resuscitated discussions on the construction of a proposed heavy-haul railway line that will link the two countries to “unlock” Botswana’s estimated 212-billion tons of coal reserves, Transnet announced on Thursday. Discussions around this project date back over ten years following a concept study that suggested that the most viable [...]

Mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe has welcomed the announcement made by French oil and gas company Total of a significant gas discovery in the Outeniqua Basin, off the coast of South Africa.  Total said on Thursday that it had made a gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects after drilling in deep sea waters, 175 kilometres [...]

A judge has adjourned a Lagos court case between South African telecoms firm MTN Group and Nigeria’s attorney general over a $2-billion tax demand until March 26, the court said on Thursday. MTN faces the demand from the country’s attorney general, a claim which the company has said is without merit. Nigeria handed MTN the [...]

Transnet has promised to deal with corruption and step up efficiency around its operations, which have taken a heavy knock over the past few years. “Over the past ten years, we have injected capital of R42-billion into the network side. Yet the scale of the network is worse today than it was ten years ago,” [...]

A government-initiated fund for prospectors and developers is under discussion with the Public Investment Corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation, Minerals Council South Africa emerging mining head Grant Mitchell said on Wednesday. Speaking at a media conference at the Investment in African Mining Indaba, Mitchell said coordination efforts were under way to establish a private [...]

Unexplained casino chips, a "bullet cartridge" and a suspicious maroon car are among a litany of unexplored claims which the Ford Motor Company dug up ahead of a High Court inquest into the death of Reshall Jimmy. Jimmy's burnt body was found in his Ford Kuga four years ago while he was on holiday in [...]

Minerals Council South Africa on Wednesday launched a national platinum strategy, which aims at sustaining a million jobs and contributing R8.2-trillion to South Africa’s economy by 2050. Speaking at a media conference at Investing in African Mining Indaba on Wednesday, Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter said although 87% of the 253 t of platinum group [...]