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Market News

Making a world of difference in energy security

By Edith Kikonyogo, Local Division Manager, Southern Africa Cluster, ABB Process Automation, Energy Industries

Since the dawn of time, humans have used energy sources to keep us warm and safe. But, in the face of rapid industrialization and technological advancements, modern society has relied and become dependent on fossil fuels for power generation.

The scientific community has warned us that unmitigated carbon emissions will exacerbate global warming and threaten our health, agriculture, water supply, biodiversity, and natural ecosystems. The Paris Agreement, adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) on 12 December 2015, became our roadmap for climate redemption.

The effect of this crisis is felt most in Africa, the second largest continent on our planet and home to more than a billion people. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Africa accounts for around 20 percent of the world’s population but attracts less than three percent of spending on energy. Africa also has the lowest emissions per capita of any region as per the IEA’s 2022 report. With severe climate change impacts and lower investment on energy, Africa faces a rising demand for an uninterrupted electricity supply.

Kumba’s Kolomela mine wins International 2024 Gold Quill of Excellence Award for integrated app solution

26 August 2024: A project whereby adumo Payouts integrated its card-based incentive payout solution with the client’s in-house app has seen Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela Mine, in the Northern Cape win a prestigious International 2024 Gold Quill Award of Excellence for Digital Media Communications on the implementation of an online voucher office, using their internal employee application called Engage. Organised by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the premier awards programme has celebrated strategic communication globally for over 40 years.

Kolomela uses a ‘voucher’ system to recognise and reward employees for achieving safety and production targets. The value of the voucher is uploaded on the cash card from adumo Payouts, which the employees can use to make purchases at any retailer in South Africa or to withdraw cash.

The revitalization of mining research, development and innovation in South Africa

The Mandela Mining Precinct is working towards the revitalization of mining research, development and innovation in South Africa, to ensure the sustainability of the industry.


Meet the two co-directors: Navin Singh and Alastair Macfarlane in the video below. The Mandela Mining precinct is a public-private collaboration between the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (DHESI); and the Minerals Council of South Africa (MCSA).

Jurgens Visser – Test Mine Programme Manager
The Mandela Mining Precinct together with the Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA) is proud to announce the establishment of South Africa’s first test mine. The test mine, located in Rustenburg, will facilitate industrial training, technology demonstration, and technology incubation. The Test Mine is co-funded by the Minerals Council of South Africa and the Department of Trade and Industry, through the Mandela Mining Precinct.
Jurgens Visser is the Mandela Mining Precinct programme manager responsible for the test mine.

Sherin Ramparsad - (SATCAP) Programme Manager

The Mandela Mining Precinct’s Successful Application of Technologies Centred Around People (SATCAP) programme, one of the six programmes of the South African Mining, Extraction, Research, Development and Innovation (SAMERDI) strategy, places people at the centre of all mining-related activities. The programme serves as an integrating function across all the SAMERDI programmes.

The approach of the programme is deeply rooted in two principles: The fundamental dignity and wisdom inherent in every participant in the minerals value chain; and the understanding that nothing will be done “for us, without us”. The programme therefore encourages full and active participation by all stakeholders in the sector. Meet the programme manager, Sherin Ramparsad in the video.

 

UJ’s Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) facility to be the first in Africa

For the first time in history, a pathway for ALD-enhanced materials to be rapidly developed and transitioned in a UJ laboratory will be available for nearly any application. The laboratory construction is a natural next step in implementing the strategy to establish national nanotechnology in South Africa.

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Other mining news

Mining Weekly | Africa

07 December 2024

The latest mining world news and project information from Africa. providing updates on the progress of future, new and existing projects. Developments in mining legislation, policies, investments and infrastructure will be highlighted
  • Opinion: Strengthening Africa’s mining future – the crucial role of legal expertise
    In this article, World Bank senior counsel and African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) project team lead Nneoma Nwogu writes about the AMLA’s impact over the past ten years.
  • Thrilling new home-grown technology can win back South Africa’s lost ferroalloy renown
    New Proudly South African smelting technology, which uses 70% less electricity, cuts costs, slashes carbon emissions and can process low-grade material, has all the attributes needed to win back the top ferroalloy production renown that South Africa enjoyed in the not so distant past. The inventive new green, clean, economically competitive, locally patented smelting technology, which is tried, tested and proven, needs only 1.2 MW of power to produce a ton of ferrochrome compared with the conventional 4 MW of power needed to do so.
  • Lotus increases mineral resource at Botswana project
    ASX-listed Lotus Resources’ recent infill drill programme has successfully converted a significant portion of the inferred mineral resources at the Letlhakane uranium project, in Botswana, into the indicated mineral resource category, with the indicated portion of the mineral resource estimate (MRE) now standing at 50%, CEO Greg Bittar says. The revised pit-constrained MRE has increased Letlhakane’s indicated mineral resources by 65% with global resources of 142.2-million tonnes at 363 ppm of uranium oxide for 113.7-million pounds.