Новости за 17.08.2021

South Africa's first Diabetes Research Centre at a public academic institution is operational and is a collaborative initiative that brings together research that is often happening in silos in different departments, says UP Diabetes Research Centre senior project manager Dr Patrick Ngassa Piotie. Although housed in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the centre adopts a transdisciplinary approach and works across faculties to develop research that aims to improve the lives of people living with diabetes.

Carbon storage monitoring startup Albo Climate and hydropower company subsidiary Tembo Climate have signed a deal to produce a high-resolution carbon monitoring model of vulnerable tropical forests in several sub-Saharan African countries. The maps will be used to carefully evaluate ecosystem health and monitor the areas for deforestation, as well as to generate verified, high-quality carbon offsets.

The Competition Commission has issued draft guidelines on collaboration between competitors on localisation initiatives for public comment. "In response to the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, government developed the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), which maps out interventions aimed at promoting inclusive growth and employment in the domestic economy.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will strengthen research, development and innovation (RDI) into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and digitisation, and promote digital inclusion and the creation of socioeconomic opportunities in information and communications technology in South Africa. CSIR CEO Dr Thulani Dlamini and UNDP South Africa resident representative Dr Ayodele Odusola have signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen their collaboration... Читать дальше...

Industry body the South African Canegrowers Association (SA Canegrowers) is concerned about the impact of the recent unrest that swept through parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, on the sugar industry, with mills in KwaZulu-Natal having rejected 135 222 t of damaged cane valued at more than R84.5-million. Almost a third of the cane rejected thus far belongs to small-scale growers who are most at risk of not recovering from revenue losses of this magnitude.

South Africa is on verge of nice breakthroughs in hydrogen, says newly elected Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) president Isabel Geldenhuys. Speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, Geldenhuys expressed the view that all the big mines with big moving machinery will have the opportunity to move away from diesel and switch to a hydrogen-based fuel system because of the contained ecosystem. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

FNB this week launched three new exchange-traded notes (ETNs) as it continues to expand its solutions offering to help more customers invest and save. The new investment instruments augment the highly popular range of ETNs that were launched by FNB late in 2020, which the financial services provider says will provide South Africans with investment exposure to some of the best known, high-performance companies and brands in the world.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is still analysing the implications that a recent amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, exempting grid-tied generation facilities below 100 MW from licensing, will have on its processes, rules and guidelines. However, fulltime regulatory member responsible for electricity Nhlanhla Gumede reports that Nersa views such registration primarily as an administrative process, rather than one where it will be expected to apply its regulatory discretion. Читать дальше...

Financial services multinational JP Morgan has launched the very first Department of Trade, Industry and Commerce- (DTIC-) approved equity equivalent investment programme (EEIP), which forms part of government’s broad-based black economic empowerment framework. The EEIP, funded by a R340-million commitment by JP Morgan, forms part of a programme under the DTIC where multinational corporations that are unable to sell equity stakes in their local operations to historically disadvantaged persons, can... Читать дальше...

JSE- and ASX-listed natural gas and helium producer Renergen will, starting in 2022, shortly after the completion of Phase 1 of its Virginia gas project, supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to glass manufacturer Consol Glass. The supply agreement is a multi-year contract and will carry a price linked to the floating liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in South Africa, as published by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Stellantis, the manufacturer and owner of the Jeep, Peugeot, Opel, Alfa, Fiat and Citroën brands, says its low-emission vehicle (LEV) mix for passenger cars in Europe is targeted to grow to more than 70% through to 2030. In the US, its LEV mix for passenger cars and light-duty trucks is expected to be more than 40% by 2030.

Engineering firm GIBB says it has used its 65 years of heritage to overcome modern challenges, including the disruptive nature of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The loss of lives and destruction of livelihoods associated with the pandemic has been painful to witness. Like everyone else, our business has had to do everything possible to survive the pandemic,” says GIBB CEO Richard Vries.

Amid a global wave of stimulus programmes and resultant construction activity, the International Zinc Association (IZA) deemed it opportune to demonstrate the proven performance of zinc to protect steel from corrosion in the built environment. In a webinar on August 12, IZA Africa Desk manager and corrosion specialist Simon Norton illustrated the chemistry of zinc as it applied to corrosion protection of steel, whether for steel structures or steel reinforcement in concrete structures.

According to research conducted by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the South African economy could face massive losses of more than R181-million for every week that it remains on the UK’s “red list” for travel. All UK travellers, regardless of their vaccine status, travelling to countries on the “red list”, which includes South Africa, are required to cover the expensive cost of a ten-day hotel quarantine upon returning to the UK, plus the fees for Covid-19 tests. The approach taken... Читать дальше...

The National Treasury and the Department of Small Business Development are jointly convening a Metro Township Economic Development (TED) Symposium on August 18 and 19. The Metro TED Symposium will focus on forging the necessary public, private, civil society and donor partnerships around evidenced-based metro priorities and interventions for the development and revitalisation of their townships and well-located industrial spaces.

South African digital bank TymeBank will export its business concept and experience to its international sister company Tyme’s newly established banking operations, GOtyme, in the Philippines. GOtyme, which has had its digital banking licence application approved by the Philippines central bank, will benefit from TymeBank’s high-touch high-tech banking model, technology, unique kiosks and digital banking expertise to bring banking simplicity and financial empowerment to the lives of Filipino consumers, TymeBank says in a statement.

The latest calculations by the Central Energy Fund show that – at the current levels of the dollar/rand rate and oil prices – diesel prices may be cut slightly in September, while petrol could be hiked. According to the Automobile Association, the petrol price could increase by around 4c a litre, while diesel may be cut by 16c and illuminating paraffin by 10c. Petrol and diesel prices are largely determined by the oil price, as well as rand strength – given that SA must buy oil in dollars. There... Читать дальше...

Affordable residential and student housing specialist Quorum Holdings is the first in South Africa to accept rental deposits in cryptocurrency, and to allow tenants to potentially benefit from an increase in value, the company says in a statement. While rental deposits are standard practice in South Africa, tenants do not usually benefit from the money being held by their landlords and deposits can be held for several years, depending on the lease, the company explains.

South African private-sector regional airline Airlink and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, -based global major carrier Emirates announced on Monday that they had agreed to widen their existing partnership and enter into a codesharing agreement. The codeshare was to be “unilateral”, their press release stated, “across Airlink’s network”. It should be noted that Emirates still has a partnership with State-owned flag carrier South African Airways. Emirates was resuming its operations to South Africa, to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Читать дальше...

Truck and trailer building company Serco says it is fast-tracking the construction of vehicles, as well as repairs to vehicles, as it works to help the transport and food sectors return to normal in the wake of the recent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng. Serco CEO Clint Holcroft says these sectors “were hit hard” by the unrest, and that it is imperative to restore supply chains as quickly as possible.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has served notice that it intends to start picketing following failed wage negotiations with the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa). The federation says it views this notice as “premature, ill-informed and procedurally defective” in that picketing may only be embarked on in support of a protected strike or in opposition to a lock-out.

As climate change is causing various regions around the world to experience longer periods of droughts and general changes in humidity and wind levels, it increases the risk for sporadic wildfires. Climate change has affected the number and intensity of fires worldwide, confirms global weather forecasting company DTN weather operations VP Renny Vandewege.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been described as a disruptive technology, which has led to high expectations, but these expectations are realistic, owing to the technology's ability to unlock significant insights from seemingly insignificant data and to use these insights to save money and improve processes, says IoT design and manufacturing company Informed Decisions CEO and IoT Industry Council of South Africa chairperson Pieter Pienaar. IoT can translate intelligence into actions that have tangible benefits across business... Читать дальше...

Electric vehicle (EV) makers are pushing for an intermediary role in mining to secure supplies of key battery metals, according to the head of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. “We’ve had discussions on that and Tesla has definitely explored these options,” CEO Randy Smallwood said Friday in a phone interview. “There is a real concern on the battery metal side in terms of supply.”