Dylan Stewart

https://staging1.creamermedia.com/

Dylan Stewart

Dylan Stewart is a Creamer Media Writer for Engineering News and Mining Weekly.

Tel: +2711 622 3744

Investors can consider the next generation of iron-ore, says expert

24th July 2015 Once demand starts to improve and the oversupplied market corrects itself, investors may start to think about where the next generation of iron-ore will come from as gaps for future demand begin to emerge, says Sahaj Capital MD Antony Rayment. →

China continues to drive iron-ore demand

24th July 2015 Despite the likely weakening of China’s demand for iron-ore, owing to the continuing decline of its real estate market and overall lower pace of urbanisation, the country’s lower projected 2015 gross domestic product was still expected to increase its mineral-demand base by about $1-trillion,... →

Photo by Duane Daws
DION SHANGO Miners across all metals and minerals continued to focus on core operations, reducing costs and improving capital discipline

Expected mine tonnage increases at Guinea project

24th July 2015 Aim-listed exploration company Sable Mining Africa in February announced an increase in the total Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource for its Nimba iron-ore project, in south-east Guinea, from 181.8-million tonnes to 205.2-million tonnes. →

Kumba to relocate VIU facility to Joburg

24th July 2015 Mining major Kumba Iron Ore, a business unit of Anglo American, will start moving its value-in-use (VIU) facility, in the west of Pretoria, to the Anglo American technical solutions facility, near Crown Mines, in the south of Johannesburg, by the end of the year, with commissioning at the new... →

Australian junior starts Gabon exploration

10th July 2015 Australia-based iron-ore junior IronRidge in May hired exploration consultancy firm SRK Exploration Services to conduct exploration on its flagship Tchibanga project, in south-west Gabon, and the Belinga Sud project in the north-east of Gabon, states IronRidge CEO Vincent Mascolo. →

PANGEA Before the separation of the continents, a rich iron belt formed billions of years ago from what is now Carajas, Brazil, through central Africa and India into Western Australia

African mining investment low, but infrastructure, consumer market boom could help

10th July 2015 Owing to the slump in the commodities market, there has been restricted growth in mining worldwide, including in Africa, with mines consolidating their existing assets rather than expanding, says multinational services firm EY mining and metals sector leader Wickus Botha. →

WICKUS BOTHA Although the drop in commodity prices has really impacted many governments’ ability to fund big projects, Africa has to work through these economic headwinds and continue to invest in infrastructure

Digitalisation expands specialist skills requirements at mines

10th July 2015 Digitalisation across the spectrum of mining processes could create various new jobs, thus promoting skills development, says information technology consulting and system integration services company Wipro energy and natural resources director Gerhard Greyling. →

GERHARD GREYLING Digitalisation will increase the need for desktop technicians, process integration specialists and trainers

Rare earths company hopeful despite political conflict in Burundi

10th July 2015 Mining exploration and development company Rainbow Rare Earths is closely monitoring events in Burundi, hoping for a peaceful resolution to political upheaval, including a failed military coup last month. →

WICKUS BOTHA Although the drop in commodity prices has really impacted many governments’ ability to fund big projects, Africa has to work through these economic headwinds and continue to invest in infrastructure

Risk in Africa is manageable – gold miner

10th July 2015 Africa is generally considered a high-risk mining environment, but gold explorer and miner Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow argues that the problem is rather that companies are not flexible enough to adapt their management techniques to different mining environments. →

MARK BRISTOW Africa is slowly gaining more stability

Zambia copper mine blast company’s biggest blast to date

10th July 2015 Explosives supplier and service provider BME achieved its biggest blast to date in March at Kansanshi copper mine, in the north-west of Zambia, detonating 4 141 electronic delay detonators (EDDs) in a single blast in the operation’s north-west pit. →

African countries becoming more investor friendly

10th July 2015 Senior lawyers from Zimbabwe and Uganda are confident that African countries, including Uganda and Zimbabwe, are becoming more investor friendly through the implementation of more liberal economic policies, says law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. →

Miners face complications and opportunities in Burundi

10th July 2015 Burundi law firm, Shonubi, Musoke and Gilbert & Partners managing partner Gilbert Nibigirwe, states that Burundi’s political conflict, which mainly occured in the capital city Bujumbura in April and May, did not have a direct impact on mining activities, but security and risk factors have had a... →

Project financing focused on power related resources

10th July 2015 Owing to robust demand and acceptable hard currency returns, there has been a swing towards private equity funds and banks providing project financing for power-related projects in Africa in the last two years, says multinational financial services provider Barclays Africa head of natural... →

Advisory network promotes shared infrastructure in Africa

26th June 2015 To fast-track high-level private sector investment in Africa’s regional infrastructure, top global and African CEOs launched the Continental Business Network (CBN) – an exclusive infrastructure investment advisory platform for African heads of State – earlier this month, reports risk, social and... →

Local company hopes to be awarded Transnet tender

26th June 2015 Local partner and agent for Plasser & Theurer Track, maintenance equipment manufacturer Plasser South Africa (SA), has submitted a tender to provide State-owned rail utility Transnet with three flash butt rail-welding machines, Plasser SA spokesperson Tamsin Louw tells Engineering News. →

SPECIAL ABILITY The flash butt rail welder can perform a closure weld

Clear strategy needed for rail upgrade plans

26th June 2015 South Africa’s numerous rail upgrade plans are not guided by a coherent, high-level, overarching strategy, the lack of which may lead to poor implementation, advises engineering and professional services consulting firm WSP Group Africa regional director Vishaal Lutchman. →

VISHAAL LUTCHMAN South Africa’s rail plans should be a reflection of a strategy that clearly justifies and defines the end goals

Rail development must encompass entire continent – JCCI

26th June 2015 If South Africa enhances its railway capacity and is the only country to do so in the Southern Africa region, without attending to north–south, inter-State rail corridors, the benefits of the country’s planned rail upgrades will be a lot less significant, says Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and... →

FAY MUKADDAM New rolling stock is a priority when upgrading rail facilities

Passenger fleet revamp a reason to celebrate, says consultancy

26th June 2015 State-owned rail operator the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (PRASA’s) rolling stock fleet renewal programme will provide a vital boost for South Africa’s economy and help establish a meaningful passenger railway industry in the country, says consultancy and auditing firm KPMG... →

DE BUYS SCOTT PRASA's new trains will not only be twice as fast but also have double the carrying capacity of the old trains

Local engineering firm more than doubles y/y rail revenue

26th June 2015 Niche technology engineering firm Ansys reported in May that it had increased its rail revenue from R37-million in 2014 to R94-million in 2015. →

Photo by Duane Daws
TEDDY DAKA Ansys has diversified its product offering into areas such as telecommunications and mining

Africa’s rail industry assembles in Joburg

26th June 2015 Remodelling public–private partnerships (PPPs), financing rail infrastructure and light rail as an alternative for passengers and intermodal networks for supply chain efficiency are a few of the topics that will be covered at the eighteenth yearly Africa Rail 2015 event, which will be held at... →

Road-to-rail policy crucial for rural areas

26th June 2015 While the South African government has finally indicated its support for a road-to-rail policy, which involves significant upgrades of South Africa’s rail facilities to encourage their being used more for goods and passenger transport than automotive transport, finding a positive practical and... →

Rolling stock life expectancy improved

26th June 2015 With billions of rands being invested in South Africa’s rail infrastructure over the next three years, the country must consider ways of ensuring the reliability, efficiency and longevity of these assets as part of this development, suggests petrochemicals major Shell South Africa technical... →

Intricate on-site tyre replacement completed within three days

19th June 2015 A recent project, involving intricate on-site repairs to a Bradford Breaker, for a major colliery in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, is part of the strong demand metals and mining service provider Tenova Takraf Africa is experiencing for its maintenance services, as clients focus on extending... →

Industrial service provider set to clean coal silo

19th June 2015 The quotation and the method statement for furnace and industrial service provider Dickinson Group’s cleaning of a Mpumalanga coal mine’s storage silo has been agreed upon, says Dickinson Group silo-cleaning division manager Marius Steyn, noting that the company is waiting for the mine to make... →

Photo by Bloomberg
HIGH MAINTENANCE A silo cleaning job can temporarily curtail a company’s production, however, neglecting to clean a silo will be more detrimental to production in the long term

Fuel cleanliness company develops automatic fuel decontaminator

19th June 2015 South Africa-based fuel cleanliness company Supa Fuel has developed a system that detects the presence of water and drains it from fuel storage tanks automatically, eliminating problems associated with the presence of water in fuel which can result in engine failure, inefficient fuel use and... →

Company yet to offer thermal assessment services to mining industry

19th June 2015 Although the solutions of electrical equipment, industrial instrumentation and automation supply, implementation and support company Magnet can be used for any electrical or mechanical application, including mining, the company is yet to offer its services to the mining industry, Magnet training... →

Cape Town refinery completes maintenance, safety inspection

19th June 2015 Multinational energy corporation Chevron completed a month-and-a-half-long, →

Solutions team customises maintenance safety product

19th June 2015 Responding to industry requests, identification solutions manufacturer Brady has introduced customised additions to its Lockout/Tagout system, a product that has the ability to totally cut off any flows of energy into a particular machine, over the past six months. →

Split bearing saves on maintenance

19th June 2015 Owing to its unique design features, the Cooper split bearing, distributed by bearings manufacturer Bearings International, lasts longer and saves on maintenance time, says Cooper split bearing product manager Matthew Tyler. →

OEMs blocking progress – wear control group

19th June 2015 Some original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are rejecting the oil purification expertise of wear control company Filter Focus to maintain high replacement and component sales volumes, says Filter Focus COO Craig FitzGerald. →

Govt energy efficiency incentive programmes ‘petered out’, says Sessa

5th June 2015 All government’s incentive programmes, aimed at encouraging energy efficiency in households, have petered out, says renewable-energy organisation the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (Sessa) water-heating division chairperson James Green. →

Sector bias causing renewable-energy market failure

5th June 2015 Renewable-energy companies have been promoting their products in sectors where the products might not be the most appropriate for the task at hand, which has resulted in many consumers turning their backs on the renewables industry, says energy-saving solutions company Renu MD Ed Selley. →

Electronics company launches green initiative

5th June 2015 Power-saving technology provider Ellies Renewable Energy, a division of public diversified electronics manufacturer Ellies Group, launched the Ellies Green Initiative at The Pyramid conference venue in Village Deep, Johannesburg, last month. →

Energy consultancy assists local bank with efficiency strategy

5th June 2015 Sustainability consultancy Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is involved in an ongoing energy efficiency project with one of South Africa’s big four commercial banks, ERM Partners Simon Clarke and Massimo Bettanin tell Engineering News. →

Energy management regulations out for public comment

5th June 2015 The draft proposal requiring all businesses that use more than 400 TJ/y of energy, by law, to submit five-year energy management plans is out for public comment, reports business coalition National Business Initiative (NBI) energy head Valerie Geen. →

Photo by Bloomberg
OUT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT The draft regulations are part of a series of policy changes to promote behaviour change among businesses

DTI-funded programme produces 78 expert level graduates

5th June 2015 Since 2010, resource efficiency programme the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa’s (NCPC-SA’s) expert-level industrial energy efficiency courses, have produced 78 graduates, says NCPC-SA marketing and communications manager Julie Wells. →

Companies partner to deliver excellence in bulk

29th May 2015 Supply chain solutions provider Barloworld Logistics and bulk commodities shipping and logistics company LBH Africa formed a strategic partnership in March to offer dry bulk commodity supply chain solutions into and out of Southern Africa. →

Dump trucks delivered to diamond mine

29th May 2015 Mobile capital equipment provider Eqstra Industrial Equipment (EIE) delivered 13 Terex TR100 rigid dump trucks in January this year to its sister company, contract mining and plant rental division MCC, which deployed the trucks at the Karowe diamond mine, in the diamond-rich Letlhakane region of... →

Materials handling partners participate in exhibition

29th May 2015 Materials handling equipment distributor BLT South Africa (SA), in conjunction with materials handling equipment manufacturer Samson Materials Handling, hosted a stand at the Institute of Quarrying Southern Africa’s exhibition, held in Somerset West, Cape Town, on April 16 and 17. →

Bulk handlers up the ante in dense phase conveying

29th May 2015 Bulk handling solutions provider Clyde Bergemann Power Group’s dense-phase pneumatic conveying system, installed at Unit 6 of national power utility Eskom’s Medupi power station, in Limpopo, is exceeding its contractual capacity since commissioning started in December, Clyde Bergemann executive... →

Direct current arc furnace research and development focused on safety, efficiency

22nd May 2015 South African mineral and metallurgical innovation company Mintek is focusing on achieving greater safety and efficiency from its direct current furnaces, pyrometallurgy specialist consultant Rodney Jones tells Mining Weekly. →

RODNEY JONES Electricity is the only feasible way to consistently and sustainably smelt ferrochromium which melts at 1 700°C

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