“Distributed acoustic sensing” looks for disturbances in fiber to detect earthquakes and even insects. Can it also improve rail safety? To find out more about this article please visit: https://www.wired.com/story/fiber-optics-bring-you-internet-now-theyre-also-listening-to-trains/ Resources: https://www.wired.com ..read more

Mining in South Africa | Despite a drop in profits, mining companies are progressing positively by investing in their future operations. Since the post-COVID-19 economic rebound, South African mining companies have enjoyed record levels of performance and shareholder returns. To find out more about this article please visit: https://www.miningreview.com/base-metals/mining-in-south-africa-adapt-to-thrive/ Resources: https://www.miningreview.com ..read more

Fibre optics is a technology that has been around for decades, but in recent years, it has become increasingly popular around the world. Fibre optic cables use light to transmit data and have a number of advantages over traditional copper cables. One of the main advantages of fibre optic cables is speed. Fibre optic cables can transmit data at much higher speeds than copper cables, making them ideal for high-bandwidth applications like video streaming and online gaming. They are also less susceptible to interference and noise, which can degrade the quality of data transmission. To find out mor ..read more

The International Mining Safety Hub (IMS Hub) is now live. Founding partners Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Impala Platinum, Sibanye-Stillwater, Teck Resources and the Minerals Council South Africa have come together to achieve the common goal of reducing fatalities and serious incidents in mining. The IMS Hub, powered by Jincom – a global visual health and safety communication specialist agency – is an online hub of industry-endorsed visual safety tools which allow for greater learning opportunities and improve safety for all levels of employees. To find out more about this ..read more

SA’s mining sector delivered a solid financial performance for the 2020-2021 financial years with value delivered to all stakeholders despite the current challenging pandemic environment. The excellent financial performance resulted in mining companies being in a very strong financial position, with record distributions to shareholders and more than a tripling in taxes paid. Debt has largely been repaid and returns to shareholders reached record rand levels for many companies. These are some of the highlights from PwC’s 13th edition SA Mine, a series of publications that highlights trends in t ..read more

Industrial 5G is unlocking efficiency in mining for improved productivity, safety, environmental sustainability and global competitiveness. These impacts will be realised through the introduction of next-generation mining technology, called Next Generation Mining (NGMining). The technology will include autonomous connected machinery, digital automation and advanced analytics for real-time situational awareness and control, to enable safety, productivity and sustainability improvements in mining opera ..read more

The Rand gained as much as 2.8% (ZAR17.22/USD) on the news that he had succeeded in his bid and was able to secure most of the ANC’s leadership positions for his allies. The outcome provides momentum for South Africa’s presidency to pursue much-needed economic reforms before citizens go to the polls in 2024. Despite new capex commitments from mining companies in 2022, production remained below pre-pandemic levels on account of endemic problems at beleaguered power and freight parastatals (Eskom and Transnet), which disrupted production and delayed exports of bulk commodities such as iron ore ..read more

The next decade will be pivotal for the mining sector in Africa and there are many reasons to feel optimistic about deal-flow and transactions on the continent in the coming years, says Shirley Webber. While African producers and governments – including South Africa – have enjoyed a windfall from buoyant commodity prices in the latter part of 2020 and 2021, there is an expectation that we will see a revision back to historical long-term price trends due to a myriad of factors. Top of mind is an expected sector focus shift where we see historical sector heavyweights starting to identify op ..read more

Mining companies are among the hardest hit by mass power cuts, as Eskom presses ahead with stage four load shedding this week. Eskom implemented stage four power cuts from 1pm on Monday through to 5am on Friday due to generation capacity shortages. Stage two power cuts would then be implemented until further notice. Generating units at Eskom keep breaking down leading to rolling outages being escalated. To find out more about this article please visit: https://ewn.co.za/2021/11/09/mining-companies-among-hardest-hit-by-eskom-blackouts Resources: https://ewn.co.za ..read more

The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has published its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2021, with the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown clearly impacting the group’s operations. Revenue was R2.2 billion for the 12 months, less than a third of the R7.1 billion generated in the previous financial year. While the company produced a profit of R1.4 billion in 2019/20, the result for FY20/21 was a loss of R2.6 billion. This was only the second loss in the company’s 28-year history. In South Africa, Acsa’s passenger figures for the year fell by 78.2%, from 21 million to 4.6 million. T ..read more