Electricity reform bears fruit with 1 185 generators now registered with Nersa
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) reports that it registered a further 98 generation facilities – with a combined capacity of 908 MW and an investment value of R17.3-billion – during the second quarter of its 2023/24 financial year. These registrations, which took place from July to September, raise to 1 185 the [...]
South Africa’s local, community engagement trumps Australia's, manganese miner reports
The South African mining industry is years ahead of its international peers when it comes to local and community engagement, Australia-listed Jupiter Mines, which owns 49.9% of the Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape, told its shareholders on Tuesday. The controlling shareholder of the a long-life, low-cost Tshipi is South Africa’s Ntsimbintle Mining, [...]
Pioneering 195 MW solar plant to sell clean electricity to multiple customers nationwide
South African independent power producer the SOLA Group has started construction on a pioneering 195 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Free State, which will wheel and sell clean electricity across the country to multiple buyers eager to decarbonised their operations. The R2.8-billion project has already secured an initial three multinational anchor offtakers, but [...]
RCL Foods, SASA launch court bid to defer Tongaat business rescue plan vote
JSE-listed food manufacturer RCL Foods and sugar industry organisation the South African Sugar Association (SASA) on December 5 launched urgent applications at the Durban High Court to prevent the planned meeting of creditors of troubled agriculture and sugarcane company Tongaat Hulett on December 8. This was revealed by Tongaat's business rescue practitioners (BRPs) in a [...]
Greater govt support for multimodal efficiencies needed, experts agree
The cost of logistics in South Africa has increased significantly in the last eight years to about R800-billion a year at present and accounting for half of all products’ inherent costs. This while the country’s logistics ability is declining.
Agbiz optimistic about market expansion to new Brics members
With more countries to become members of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) grouping, the South African agricultural industry will seek to deepen trade with these countries, particularly Saudi Arabia as a $20-billion importer of agricultural produce every year. The European Union and Asia nonetheless remain fundamentally important markets to South Africa’s [...]
Exxaro, Council for Geoscience sign MoU to drive sustainability, decarbonisation
Diversified miner Exxaro Resources and South African national science council the Council for Geoscience (CGS) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to drive sustainability and decarbonisation efforts. The MoU expresses an intention to collaborate on carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) initiatives towards the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions, thereby promoting climate change adaptation [...]
Court rules Tongaat, Gledhow must pay R1.5bn in sugar industry agreement fees
Durban High Court judge Rashid Vahed on December 4 ruled that the Sugar Industry Agreement creates statutory, not contractual, obligations that are not overridden by the business rescue process under the Companies Act. Vahed was hearing sugar miller Tongaat Hulett's application to suspend its payment obligations arising out of the Sugar Industry Agreement.
Nampak making progress on R2.7bn disposals; records billions in forex, impairment losses
JSE-listed packaging company Nampak recorded a 2% year-on-year decrease in revenue to R16.6-billion for the financial year ended September 30, while trading profit increased by 2% to R1.6-billion. However, the company suffered a foreign exchange loss of R1.2-billion, while impairment losses of R2.8-billion adversely impacted on profitability and reduced the group's shareholder equity base by 61% to [...]
Global nuclear energy summit announced for early next year
The intergovernmental International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo have jointly announced that an international summit-level conference on nuclear energy would take place in Brussels, Belgium, this coming March. This summit would be the first ever of its kind. “If you want [...]
Both Koeberg units to be offline from July unless NNR approves Eskom’s licence decoupling …
The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will decide in January whether to grant Eskom’s request for the Koeberg Unit 1 and Unit 2 licences to be separated to reflect a later commercial operation date for Unit 2 to enable the unit’s continued operation beyond July 2024. Should the NNR board refuse Eskom’s request for a decoupling, [...]
SAAFF welcomes R47bn facility guarantee for Transnet's recovery
The South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) says the R47-billion facility guarantee extended to Transnet, as announced by the government on December 1, is welcome as it may indeed activate the recovery of the State-owned entity and, in due course, aid the positioning of an efficient, fully functional multimodal logistics system soon. Finance Minister [...]