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Renewable Energy, social upset key themes for miners in 2023 – Fitch Solutions

Capital expenditure of mining companies is increasingly being aimed at renewable energy projects and associated grid development – a trend that is likely to continue throughout this year, financial risk management, solutions and insights company Fitch Solutions commodities analyst Amelia Haines says. She notes that the use of renewable energy to accommodate current and future energy needs will be the key strategy being used by miners to reduce costs this year, as it can reduce costs in the long term, while also having the benefit of reducing threats to energy security.
January 26, 2023 by

TFR sets March 20 closing date for tender seeking OEMs to step in to rehabilitate idle locos

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has set a closing date of March 20 for responses to a tender inviting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to step in to rehabilitate more than 160 Chinese-manufactured locomotives that are out of service, owing to the unavailability of critical spare parts. The unavailability of locomotives has affected operation on corridors used to export coal, magnetite, chrome and manganese, with the coal corridor having been particularly badly affected with the number of operational locomotives having slumped by 33%, between the 2017/18 and 2020/21 financial years, a collapse that TFR itself describes as “staggering”.
January 26, 2023 by

City Power announces R401m short-term loadshedding mitigation plan

In what could be her last address as City of Johannesburg (CoJ) mayor, since she faces a vote of no confidence, Mpho Phalatse has announced City Power’s ‘Sustainable Energy Strategy’, which it has published with the aim of attracting funding, to help reduce the severity of loadshedding in the city.
She says the city has been on a path towards reducing its reliance on Eskom in earnest since May last year, following the Joburg Energy Indaba.
January 26, 2023 by

Kearney appoints energy sector veteran Reddy as equity partner

Management consulting firm Kearney has appointed energy specialist Prashaen Reddy as an equity partner.

A business leader with over 13 years of experience in consulting, including six years focused on strategy and transformation in key sectors like energy, mining and chemicals, Reddy’s participatory, collaborative approach to macroeconomic challenges has earned him widespread acclaim.

January 26, 2023 by

Sugar industry warns of R723m in loadshedding-induced losses for this year

Industry body SA Canegrowers has appealed to government to implement measures to mitigate the impact of loadshedding on sugarcane growers, warning that its data shows that the South African sugar industry is set to lose R723-million this year as a result of loadshedding. “With milling giant Tongaat Hulett in business rescue and the destructive Health Promotion Levy [also known as the sugar tax] already hampering the industry, these losses are potentially catastrophic for growers and the industry’s workers,” it states.
January 26, 2023 by

Eskom’s debt plan raises hopes for investors facing long wait for relief

High hopes that South Africa’s government will next month lay out plans to take on a majority of the debt owed by beleaguered state utility Eskom have lifted the company’s bonds, providing some relief to investors facing a long and uncertain wait. South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul its state-power company which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and reeling under a R400-billion debt pile.
January 26, 2023 by

Loadshedding threatens South Africa’s platinum supply

South Africa’s worst ever power blackouts are threatening platinum and palladium supplies in the top miner, both now and in the years ahead. Outages last year curbed output of the metals, and the power crisis that’s crimping the economy has worsened in recent months. The nation’s platinum-group metals production will likely fall this year, according to Impala Platinum.
January 26, 2023 by

Shorter contracts should get Karpowerships past the finish line – Mantashe

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says cutting the proposed contract periods with Karpowership from 20 years to 10 years could help government realise its ambitions to procure energy urgently from the floating power stations. Mantashe was speaking at an ANC Energy Dialogue held in Johannesburg on Tuesday, during which Eskom announced that Stages 4 and 5 load shedding would be implemented until Sunday.
January 26, 2023 by

Eskom weighs nuclear fuel impact after US-South Africa pact ends

Power utility Eskom is examining how the suspension of a pact that enables it to import nuclear fuel components from the US will affect its sole atomic plant. The Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between the US and South Africa expired on December 4. That resulted in Westinghouse Electric Co losing its licence from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to export fuel-assembly components to Eskom’s Koeberg plant near Cape Town.
January 26, 2023 by