Новости за 01.04.2021

Former International Airlines Group (IAG) CEO Willie Walsh became the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata’s) eighth director-general on Thursday, succeeding Alexandre de Juniac. Iata is the representative body of the global airline industry. Walsh was elected to the post at Iata’s seventy-sixth annual general meeting, in November. “I am passionate about our industry and about the critical work that Iata does on behalf of its members, never more so than during the Covid-19 crisis,” affirmed Walsh. Читать дальше...

City Power has appointed Mongezi Ntsokolo as its new CEO with effect from April 1. Ntsokolo has almost 30 years’ experience in the electricity industry, having served in different managerial roles at State power utility Eskom, including as group executive for generation, transmission, distribution and human resources.

Of four factors required to attract investment in exploration, economic and fiscal stability is the most important, says highly experienced geological and mining consultant and nonexecutive company director Adrian Reynolds. Reynolds spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview about the factors that the hugely successful Randgold Resources, now part of the global Barrick Gold, took into account when investing so successfully in exploration in Africa. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

South Africa collected R1.25-trillion in tax revenue in the financial year ended March 2021, around 12% less than the government's original target of R1.425-trillion, the revenue service said on Thursday. The initial 2020/21 target was set by the National Treasury before the coronavirus pandemic struck in March last year. Treasury revised the estimate down to R1.112-trillion in October, but then upped it to R1.212-trillion in the February 2021 budget. The South African Revenue Service (Sars) said improved economic activity... Читать дальше...

The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) has appointed Shafeeq Abrahams as the new CE and principal officer, replacing Linda Mateza, effective April 1. Abrahams is the current EPPF CFO, a role he has held since 2018.

The expected turnaround in South Africa’s new-vehicle market has started, says Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council. Naamsa on Thursday released the new-vehicle sales statistics for March, which is the first month of the year to produce comparable year-on-year numbers, considering the fact that the country’s Covid-19 lockdown restrictions came into effect in March last year.

Dual-listed natural gas and helium producer Renergen has completed its fifth major milestone at its Virgina gas project, in the Free State, as the company works towards the start of production in 2021. The milestone includes the shipment of various equipment from China to South Africa.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency’s (JRA’s) asphalt plant, in Booysens, is fully functional and operations have resumed after a successful trial-run during the past week. The plant, which produces asphalt used for road construction and repairs, was closed in August last year, owing to technical and operational challenges. The extended downtime has affected the speed of service delivery and the JRA had to source asphalt from private suppliers for roads maintenance work.

Two master’s students at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), Constant Beckerling and Anlo van Wyk, are developing new technologies aimed at disrupting the booming cannabis, or so called ‘green gold’, industry. Their novel cannabis cultivation technologies, developed for the African climate, have earned them special recognition in the Biosciences category of the Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP).

In this opinion piece, ocean rower Zirk Botha share his perspective about the planet and our role in its future.

South Africa’s push for female empowerment has led to an outperformance against emerging-market peers when measured by gender diversity in listed company boards, along with a realization that much more needs to be done to pursue equality. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the only exchange from a developing country to beat the Group of 20 average for female representation among directors of companies traded on the bourse, according to figures from Sustainable Stock Exchanges.

South Africa's seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) expanded for third month in a row in March as new sales and exports rose with the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, a survey showed on Thursday. The index, a gauge of manufacturing activity in Africa's most industrialised economy, rose to 57.4 points in March from 53.0 points in February.

Scientists and engineers at Stellenbosch University have developed a ‘visualisation tool’ that can, in three dimensions (3D) in space, as well as in time, automatically localise and quantify specific processes inside biological cells, such as those that make up the human body. The main focus for the new ‘tool’ is mitochondrial fission and fusion, hence its name – the Mitochondrial Event Localiser (MEL). The Stellenbosch researchers who developed the tool are Dr Rensu Theart, Prof. Ben Loos, Prof. Читать дальше...

Special alloys company Multi Alloys will merge with EMVAfrica to become a specialised division of the stainless steel products and valves company on May 1. The merged businesses will give EMVAfrica a widened and enhanced range of long products, from the ferritic and austenitic stainless, including the Duplex range of stainless steels, nickel-based alloys, titanium-based alloys and some copper based alloys.

The National Treasury has published draft amendments to the carbon offset regulations, prescribing carbon offsetting in terms of Section 19(c) of the Carbon Tax Act. A public comment period is open until the end of April.

National associations the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the African Energy Chamber (AEC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on capacity building initiatives and standardisation to enhance safety, environmental protection and sustainability in African countries producing natural gas and oil. “API is pleased to collaborate with the AEC to expand use of our world-class standards and programmes to help enhance the safety, transparency and sustainability of ...

The release of the request for proposal (RFP) documentation for Bid Window 5 (BW 5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been delayed, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed. The department reports that the delay is the result of a need to align certain parts of the RFP documents with feedback from National Treasury on the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act exemption application.

The board at State-owned electricity utility Eskom confirmed on Thursday that Advocate Ishmael Semenya SC had accepted its request to conduct an independent inquiry into claims of racism and abuse of power levelled against CEO André de Ruyter by suspended chief procurement officer Solly Tshitangano. Tshitangano made his allegations in writing to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which subsequently indicated that it intended investigating the matter.

Despite the strain that the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccinations is placing on the fiscus, industry body Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) believes that it needs to be prioritised in concert with the fast-tracked implementation of infrastructure projects for the recovery of South Africa’s economy. Cesa CEO Chris Campbell tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the vaccination programme will catalyse the success of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), which was presented... Читать дальше...