Engineering News and Mining Weekly

Awaking

This month saw the achievement of another milestone for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope programme, which is being developed by the UK-based SKA Observatory (SKAO) and is composed of two instruments, based in South Africa...

Supportive Ecosystem

Engineered Artistry

Somewhere in Linden, Johannesburg, Albertus Bekker is putting the finishing touches to a new violin after almost 150 hours of painstaking work. Bekker is what is known as a luthier – he handcrafts, repairs and maintains string instruments. If you...

Breakthrough Moment?

South Africa’s embattled construction sector may at last be seeing the longawaited infrastructure window of opportunity being opened. The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), delivered by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in October, sets out...

AI Factory

One of South Africa’s first AI factories has hit the ground running, attracting interest from companies keen to leverage enterprise-level AI infrastructure and services. Altron’s new AI factory – a complete AI ecosystem for South African enterprises –...

Call to Action

To counter sluggish global growth and rising trade fragmentation, deeper and more sustainable industrialisation is increasingly being viewed as the route to inclusive development, prompting the high-level Business 20 (B20) South Africa Industrial...

Production Seat of

South African manufacturing is in dire need of revitalised localisation. Statistics South Africa has recorded a steady decline for years, with the slide reaching 1.5% year-on-year in August, up from a 0.7% decrease in July – reflecting a loss of more...

Fine Balance

With State-owned freight logistics group Transnet having turned to the market to invest in rail and port infrastructure, and the Department of Transport (DoT) having introduced various reforms to allow for private-sector participation (PSP) in South...

Renewed Energy

After several delays since its launch in 2017, the $294-million Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP), aimed at repairing decades of erosion from high-velocity water discharge and refurbishing the dam’s spillway, is now largely complete, with...

Circular Virtue

While the viability of retreating mine tailings remains a key consideration – both for reprocessing these mining by-products and for determining the end use of any reclaimed land – it has nonetheless become a core component of modern mining. Tailings...

South Africans must insist on transparency at all levels of government

Opacity helps corruption to thrive and it must not be allowed to continue in instances where there is valid reason to believe that irregularities are more than likely taking place. South Africans must insist on transparency in all things government....

Mining in West Africa

Sky’s Limit the

This year is a red-letter year for the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), with the climax arguably being its hosting of the Sixth Space Economy Leaders Meeting (SELM6), at Kleinmond in the Western Cape, at the start of September. This was in...

COAL

Aligned with global coal association Global Alliance for Sustainable Coal’s (FutureCoal’s) Fund Fair, Fund Equal campaign, recently appointed FutureCoal chairperson Mike Teke has called on global financial leaders to fund coal fairly and...

TRUST DEFICIT

South Africa’s aviation sector faces a critical test as recent difficulties at State-owned Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) disrupt operations and cause delays, triggering safety warnings from industry experts. Air traffic safety underpins...

ACTION REQUIRED

The global automotive market is facing a shift as profound as the day the first mass-produced vehicle drove off the assembly line. From horse-and-carriage versus car, the conflict has now, more than 100 years later, moved to internal-combustion-engine...

RE-BUILDING CONFIDENCE

The continued progress of structural reforms in South Africa – including at State-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as Transnet – is contributing to improved investor sentiment and growth in the construction sector. But for all the progress, the sector...

SUPPLY STRAINS

South Africa’s fuel supply system is under strain, as the country continues to rely heavily on imports amid stagnating infrastructure investment and unresolved regulatory issues. “We’re in a new world now, where supply security has risen to the top of...

GRIDLOCKED

South Africa can unlock an additional 53 GW of electricity generation capacity by constructing 14 000 km of transmission infrastructure – a critical step in enabling the electricity sector to transition to more sustainable energy generation. “While...

QUEUES CLICKS? TO

The South African government is embarking on a new five-year roadmap to deliver a unified and modernised ‘One Person, One Government, One Touch’ system that reshapes how citizens access essential public services. The Roadmap on the Digital...

UPTICK BUT NO BOOM

Despite rising gold prices driven by increased central bank demand and ongoing global geopolitical tensions – which should benefit South African gold miners – local production continues to decline as mines become deeper and labour and utility costs...

Automotive sector facing decline as SA’s infrastructure decay comes home to roost – Barnes

The fundamental challenge many vehicle assembly operations in South Africa currently face is that their operations are becoming less vital to the success of their parent companies. This is linked to competitiveness challenges in South Africa, says...

TRACK SWITCH

The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) is pursuing a new strategy to play a broader role in the country’s transport ecosystem and align to the province’s 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan (ITMP) 2025, which envisions a passenger rail network as...

MACHINE-SPEED DEFENCE

AI tools are rapidly changing the cybersecurity landscape, enabling fraud attacks that are more difficult to detect, and the exploitation of vulnerabilities and stolen credentials in increasingly sophisticated breaches, says cybersecurity company ESET...

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

In its newly released Automotive Trade Manual 2025, naamsa | The Automotive Business Council describes 2024 as “a taxing year”. The combined export value of vehicles and automotive components from South Africa dropped by R2-billion, or 0.7%, from the...

CULTIVATING MARKETS

South Africa’s agriculture sector has come under increasing pressure to diversify into new markets amid turbulent world market dynamics driven by radical shifts in US trade policy. During a webinar hosted by Creamer Media on May 28, panel facilitator...

TWO STEPS BACK

The latest version of the Mineral Resources Development Bill of 2025, released for public comment on May 20, is unlikely to meet its objectives and may instead prolong regulatory uncertainty, according to law firm Herbert Smith Freehills partner Peter...

RED FLAGS

On May 6, 2024, the Neo Victoria project – a residential building that was still under construction in George, in the Western Cape – collapsed without warning, claiming the lives of 34 of the 62 construction workers on site. Many of the 28 survivors...

CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

As the world shifts towards a low-carbon future in response to unrelenting climate change, demand is surging for minerals essential to this transition, many of which are found in abundance across Africa, which boasts an estimated one-third of the...

OVERFLOWING

In less than six months, the water storage level of South Africa’s Vaal dam surged from less than 30% capacity in December to overflowing, prompting the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to open several sluice gates to relieve pressure on the...

TRADE EXPOSED

The South African manufacturing sector continues to face pressures associated with weak domestic growth and infrastructure backlogs, which are being exacerbated by intensifying global headwinds linked largely to US President highly unpredictable...

QUANTUM WORLD

This year is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Proclaimed by the UN, it celebrates the centenary of the development of the theory of quantum mechanics and is being marked by events all around the world, on every inhabited...

MISSING LINK

While there is ongoing demand for gas for industrial and commercial uses in South Africa – and no shortage of finance for upstream oil and gas projects – the country has yet to take meaningful steps towards building the infrastructure needed to link...

SEWAGE & EFFLUENT

Increased untreated sewage being discharged into Gauteng’s rivers is adversely affecting critical ecosystems, communities and economic opportunities, says political party Democratic Alliance (DA) infrastructure shadow member of the executive council...

MADE IN AFRICA

In efforts to help the African continent champion its green industrialisation, the newly formed Green Industrial Development Expert Panel (GIDEP) highlighted during its inaugural meeting last month the importance of diversifying Africa’s economies,...

REVITALISATION?

South Africa’s water and sanitation infrastructure (WSI) is in a poor state, and stakeholders recognise the urgent need to address this to prevent a supply crisis, with various partnership and regulatory initiatives being pursued to mitigate the...

SUB-STANDARD?

Ever since allegations of corruption and mismanagement against State-owned entity the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) started to surface late last year, the organisation has been under scrutiny. A major cyberattack crippled the SABS in...

CLOSING THE LOOP

With increasing pressure being placed on South Africa’s municipal dumps amid growing waste generation, promoting a circular economy could provide valuable solutions while potentially creating new business opportunities. Although South Africa has...

GROWING RISK

As many regions across South Africa, including the City of Johannesburg and eThekwini, continue to grapple with significant water supply challenges and extended outages, the growing threat of water pollution could further overwhelm the country’s...

BMW SA reintroduces third shift, reports growing local interest in PHEV model

BMW Group South Africa (BMW SA) says the new BMW X3 has “strongly resonated” with local customers since its introduction in October last year, with all available stock sold, or on order. The X3 is produced at the German carmaker’s Rosslyn site, in...

HOT TOPIC

The growth of renewable power in South Africa’s energy mix, and infrastructure development programmes, such as State-owned Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan (TDP) 2024 to 2034, will help to provide demand for steel components from the country’s...

MARKET DRIVERS

It may have been 60 years ago, but Bob Dylan’s 1964 hit perhaps best describes conditions in last year’s automotive market – The Times They Are A-Changin’. 2024 was the year in which the dominance of the traditional US and European automotive...

GRID ALIGNMENT

South Africa’s grid infrastructure is inadequate to support economic growth and accommodate much-needed additional power, especially from renewableenergy sources coming on line as part of the country’s just energy transition. While transmission...

CRITICAL THINKING

Circularity and community engagement have emerged as key factors for critical minerals mining as more countries and companies turn their focus to the “new” minerals required for green energy and decarbonisation technologies globally. African...

SUPERFICIAL SOLUTION

When the Department of Transport (DoT) launched the Vala Zonke pothole reporting and repair programme nationwide in August 2022, it was widely seen as a positive sign of government’s taking innovative action to address the state of South Africa’s...

FORWARD LOOKING

The Investing in African Mining Indaba 2025 is adopting a forward-thinking approach by actively exploring new audience sectors to enhance the event, while embracing the “universal truth” of a shared responsibility to safeguard the planet for future...

GOLDEN THREAD

Driven by factors such as strong global gold exchange-traded fund inflows and over-the-counter (OTC) demand, gold’s record-breaking year of 2024 saw the gold price rising by more than 28% in US dollars, trading 22% higher on average last year than...

PLUGGING IN

The exercise was aimed at testing the Roam Air’s drivetrain, portable dual batteries and solar charging capabilities under realworld conditions. Nairobi now buzzes with thousands of e-bikes, some of which have been supplied by Roam, including to Uber,...

THE DOWN DRAIN

Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province and economic hub, eagerly anticipates a significant inflow of additional water in 2028 from the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) to plug demand gaps in its water...

THE FROM ASHES

While State-owned electricity utility Eskom produces more than 34-million tons of coal ash a year, only 7% to 10% is beneficiated, with the remaining material accumulating in dumps scattered across Gauteng, the Free State and Mpumalanga, where it poses...

LONG HAUL

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) generate much lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, across their entire lifecycle, than conventional jet fuels. SAF can reduce life-cycle CO2 emissions by up to 80% compared with fossil fuels. Moreover, SAF contain far...

MIND THE GAP

Amid existing initiatives to achieve the correct rail access pricing to make it economically viable for private rail operators to invest, provide services and help State-owned transport agency Transnet to pay off its debt, the most important aspect of...

CHANGED CLIMATE

With climate change perceived as one of the critical challenges threatening the viability of businesses, infrastructure and natural ecosystems, industry bodies Minerals Council South Africa and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) have welcomed the...

ELECTRIC TRIAL

By this time next year, it will be possible to tell whether electric minibus taxis are viable people movers within the South African transport landscape. By then, newcomer to the domestic automotive landscape flx EV aims to have 40 battery electric...

NON-COVALENT BOND

Despite enthusiasm for the development of a hydrogen economy from the public and private sectors, there remains a significant lack of coordination to effectively implement projects and bring the dream of a green hydrogen economy to life, according to...

THREAD GOLDEN

The integrity of the global gold supply chain has been the subject of intense scrutiny of late, following a damning report by Swiss nongovernmental organisation SwissAid earlier this year, which claims that illicit gold trade amounts to between...

INNOVATION HUB

As the global mining industry increasingly adopts technology, such as AI and automation, partnerships between academia and industry are poised to play a pivotal role in ensuring the continuous professional development of mining engineers. South Africa...

POWER SHIFT

South Africa’s electricity market is in the process of liberalising and evolving, with State efforts to establish an effective framework for the energy transition, together with growing private-sector readiness, raising expectations of accelerated...

CRITICAL SHUTDOWN

Amajor water-transfer tunnel supplying Gauteng’s water and half of Lesotho’s electricity will be closed for six months for critical planned maintenance starting on October 1. The maintenance project, a complex undertaking planned years in advance by...

CULTIVATING GROWTH

Newly appointed Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen is pushing a renewed focus on structural reforms, biosecurity and improved trade relations with other countries as the Democratic Alliance leader takes charge of the department as part of the...

RESEARCH REVIVAL

In the drive for economic advancement and global competitiveness, innovation stands as a pivotal force, with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighting that a modest single percentage point increase in research and...

DEFENCE DILEMMA

That the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is badly underfunded, and is in a state that could reasonably be described as verging on crisis, is almost universally accepted among all those who are interested in the country’s defence...

SAFETY TOOLKIT

While South Africa has made notable progress in reducing occupational injuries and diseases in the mining and industrial sectors, more needs to be done – including bolstering collaboration and leveraging digitalisation – to reach zero harm. This was...