Page 10 - Mining Weekly News Today

The telecommunications sector is expected to be the fastest-growing industry in Africa over the next five years as Internet connectivity improves – a positive development since growth in telecommunications spurs growth in other sectors. South Africa, therefore, must facilitate digital infrastructure development, and “stop writing policies and strategies for 2050” until it can execute on the strategies already in place for the period up to 2025, Inclusive Society Institute&rsquo...

Platinum group metals company Wesizwe Platinum has confirmed to shareholders that it will start commissioning of the Bakubung Platinum Mine (BPM) processing plant on May 31. Production at BPM is expected to start as soon as possible after the plant's commissioning has been completed.

South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is going all out to attract junior mining and exploration companies, making it easier for companies to get on to the exchange and to remain on the exchange, while ensuring that investor protections are of the highest calibre. In the last few years, the JSE has also made it progressively easier for secondary listings and the fast-tracking of inward listings.

JSE-listed Northam Platinum Holdings has received notification from London-based investment company BlackRock advising that it has acquired a beneficial interest in the securities of Northam, such that BlackRock now holds a beneficial interest of 5.04% in the company’s total issued share capital. The company has filed the relevant notification with the Takeover Regulation Panel.

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

Axpo plans to build a battery energy storage system to provide ancillary services in the Landskrona region to help balance the grid.

Extending the lifespan of South Africa’s coal-fired power plants is unlikely to attract investment, Standard Chartered warned earlier this month. CEO Kweku Bedu-Addo was quoted by Business Day as saying that investors want to avoid being trapped in stranded assets given the global shift away from fossil fuels. The move would also make it difficult to use sovereign bond sales to fund additional investment in Eskom, given that some arrangements can include so-called use-of-proceeds clauses.

As the energy crisis in the country incrementally worsens, the ramifications are considerable for property owners, who are having to resort to various options to limit the impact of prolonged periods of outages, future-proof their assets and ensure business continuity. However, this is not enough to contain the fallout, and property owners are also calling for efforts to be bolstered, through other solutions, to resolve the energy challenges.

The Mentarang Induk will be the biggest hydropower plant in Indonesia.

Independent research commissioned by Rio Tinto group’s Richards Bay Minerals to benchmark what works for community trusts and conversely what fails, was this week shared with South Africa as a whole in a media briefing. The report comes about following Richards Bay Minerals being prone to considerable past violence, including the murder two years ago to the day of GM Nico Swart and the murder nearly three years ago of Richards Bay Minerals-linked community leader Judia Mbuyazi.