South Africa will become an irrelevant trading partner if the country does not keep up with the pace of global technological development says Communications and Digital Technology Minister Mondli Gungubele. "Digital transformation is moving fast globally. It is not informed by our spirit, it is informed by the speed of the world," he said in [...]

The Copper 360 School of Mining, which announced the development of the training facility in August, has launched its first set of courses at the Concordia operation in the Northern Cape, which are aimed at nurturing human capital in anticipation of an expected provincial minerals development surge. The school’s first courses are unaccredited and Copper [...]

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has taken legal action against three companies that it says attempted to export scrap metal and copper ingots without valid export permits or in violation of permit conditions. The Durban Regional Court issued fines to the three companies on September 6 following their admission of guilt.

A major private-sector-led initiative, in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, has been launched to unlock significant private sector resources for investment into South Africa’s largest economy and bridge the gap between government vision and corporate action. The Project 35% Plus Roundtable, unveiled at Standard Bank’s Johannesburg headquarters on Monday, also aims to strategically influence [...]

In marking Public Service Month, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Monday that action to discourage corruption in government departments must continue if government is to build an accountable, professional civil service. He said “it is correct” that corrupt activities be exposed and action taken against those responsible. Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the [...]

Ethiopia said on Sunday it had completed the fourth and final phase of filling a reservoir for its planned massive hydroelectric power plant on the Blue Nile, a project that Egypt and Sudan have long opposed. Construction of the $4-billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began in 2011 and Ethiopia sees the project as crucial [...]

Power utility Eskom reports that nine people were arrested at the Kusile power station on September 7 for theft of coal and fraud. Eight of the nine were weighbridge operators employed by Eskom Rotek Industries (ERI), with the ninth being a coal truck driver.

The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation, is calling for the submission of funding applications for developing innovative natural resource and energy technologies. The technology focus areas include water and sanitation, particularly digitisation for water and wastewater treatment plants and other efficiency technologies; circular economy, particularly waste-to-energy and [...]

A new report published by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) finds that concessional climate financing is essential to unlock offshore wind in emerging markets. The report, titled ‘The Role of Concessional Climate Finance in Accelerating the Deployment of Offshore Wind in Emerging Markets’ was published [...]

With new technologies promising to transform commercial aviation, Kenyan national flag carrier Kenya Airways is determined to be an active participant in this revolution and so make the East African country a regional and then continental (and perhaps even a global) centre for these technologies. To this end, it has set up a specialised subsidiary [...]

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said she expects the long-delayed implementation plan for an $8.5-billion climate pact with some of the world’s richest nations to be completed by the COP28 summit that starts on November 30. The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnership, which aims to help coal-dependent South Africa transition to cleaner energy, has [...]

South Africa’s mining companies, losing out on billions of dollars in sales due to logistics bottlenecks, could soon have a quicker route to ports in neighboring Mozambique. The Logistics Co (TLC), indirectly owned by Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Managers, plans to open a trucks-only crossing at Komatipoort, just north of South Africa’s main Lebombo [...]