Новости за 03.09.2021

Advisory services multinational PwC Africa has announced its six focus areas to support the group's global New Equation strategy, which aims to deliver sustained outcomes for its clients. PwC Africa’s six key focus areas are trust; growth and value creation; environmental, social and governance (ESG); digitisation; international development; and workforce.

The Swartland municipality, in the Western Cape, is upgrading the wastewater treatment works of rural town Moorreesburg at a cost of R122-million, says Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister Anton Bredell. The project is expected to be completed by January 2023. It is one of the largest capital projects in the history of Moorreesburg.

Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is evaluating the use of carbon capture at power plants as part of decarbonisation plans to transform the coal-burning utility. The process that captures carbon-dioxide emissions would need to be financially viable, CEO Andre de Ruyter said in an interview on radio station 702 on Friday.

Waste management is one of the biggest challenges faced by the African recycled polymer supply chain and the continent’s waste management challenges urgently need to be dealt with, says Independent Commodity Intelligence Servcies (ICIS) plastic recycling analyst Carolina Holland. In an insight piece distributed on September 3, Holland explains how population growth rates are over 2% a year and that the consequent increase in consumption of plastic packaging makes polymer the largest fraction of waste after organic waste.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described a recently gazetted amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, opening the way for sub-100 MW grid-tied embedded generators to supply one or more customers without a licence, as a “defining moment in energy generation in our country”. Responding to a Parliamentary question on the progress being made on government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), the President said that the reform, which was implemented in August, had been “widely welcomed... Читать дальше...

Platinum group metals mining and marketing company Implats is studying three new projects at the same time as three already approved projects get under way at a combined capital expenditure of close to R12-billion, Implats CEO Nico Muller has announced. During this week’s presentation of record financial results covered by Mining Weekly, Muller calculated that the amount of capital expenditure required for the growth projects would be R5.7-billion for the expansion of the Two Rivers PGM mine in South... Читать дальше...

Diversified international private healthcare services group Mediclinic’s Southern Africa division has entered into an agreement, valued at up to £110-million, or about R2-billion, with Energy Exchange of Southern Africa to procure renewable electricity. As part of the group's broad environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, Mediclinic has set an ambitious target to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Defence on September 3 said it was concerned about the unending repair and maintenance programme (Ramp) of the first floor of 1 Military Hospital, in Tshwane. The committee’s concerns are based on the cost implications involved, with more than R1-billion already spent, in addition to the cost of medical outsourcing, which are depleting an already-constrained budget.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a polymer composite solution for, and in partnership with, steel pipe manufacturer Hall Longmore. The solution advances Hall Longmore's aim to offer the South African water industry a localised push-fit application for pressurised steel pipelines.

Japan's Nissan Motor Co has developed a new technology to halve the cost of recycling rare earths used in magnet motors for electric vehicles (EVs), the company said on Friday. With tension simmering between China and the United States, automakers are trying to reduce their reliance on a key driver of the EV revolution - permanent magnets that power electric engines, as most are made of rare earth metals from China.

South African private sector activity stabilised in August after a sharp downturn in July amid civil unrest and Covid-19 lockdown measures, despite widespread supply chain issues, a survey showed on Friday. IHS Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 49.9 in August from an 11-month low of 46.1 in July, just below the 50-point that separates expansion from contraction.

The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) reports that its affiliated employer associations – the National Employers Association of South Africa and the South African Engineers and Founders Association, have agreed to extend the deadline for concluding wage increase negotiations to September 14. The organisation states that this is being done in a serious endeavour to stave off the possibility of industry industrial action.

The alleged flouting of various health and safety regulations, and non-reporting of a major and serious incident, has resulted in a prohibition notice being issued by Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) inspectors to Coega Steel, in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape. The discovery of noncompliance came to light after an occupational health and safety inspector received anonymous pictures of a Coega Steel employee with burns on their hands and face, resulting from an alleged explosion that took place at the employer’s furnace department... Читать дальше...

The University of the Witwatersrand' (Wits') Johannesburg Lightning Research Laboratory (JLRL) is turning Johannesburg into a laboratory where live lightning events are measured and characterised through the use of high-speed cameras, direct current measurements, fast electric field measurements, field measurements and comparison with lightning location systems. To build on Wits' pioneering research into lightning, and as part of the Wits Centenary programme that seeks to advance society for good... Читать дальше...

JSE-listed Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) says it delivered significantly improved results for the full-year ended June 30, returning to overall profitability in what remained a challenging operating environment. The improved performance is primarily attributable to reduced losses in Australia, with efforts to reach the physical completion of the Western Roads Upgrade (WRU) project in that country having contributed to substantial losses in the previous reporting period.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the largest disruptors to global industries in history and that includes the private equity (PE) market. That disruption has resulted in practical changes in how fundraising took place over the last year, PE company Actis partner Natalie Kolbe said this week.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to afflict Africa, with the number of deaths increasing while the rate of vaccination remains slow, the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has warned that the lack of support from governments and development finance institutions for the continent’s aviation and tourism industries was a major threat to the African commercial aviation sector.  AFRAA warned that, should governments fail to respond to the appeals of itself, the African Civil Aviation Commission ...

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the nearly R19-billion loss posted by power utility Eskom for the 2021 financial year, as well as about Eskom's still-high debt levels and what impact this could have on the utility's just energy transition transaction.

State-owned railway utility Transnet Freight Rail (TRF) is approaching its customers about instituting a three-year security levy, which will be used to raise the funding needed for the rapid deployment of technology-based security solutions across a network that is currently collapsing under the strain of intensifying theft and vandalism. TFR CEO Sizakele Mzimela tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the levy, which will be injected into a ring-fenced security fund and governed outside of TFR’s internal procurement system... Читать дальше...

A video round up of this week’s magazine, highlighting our cover story, features and Business Leader.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) has already awarded the contracts for the construction of the infrastructure required for the expansion of the country’s world-leading MeerKAT radio telescope array. Located in the Karoo region, roughly west of the Northern Cape town of Carnarvon, the array has won enthusiastic plaudits from the global astronomy and astrophysics communities because of the unprecedentedly high-resolution data it is providing, which has already led to a number ...