Content about Exxaro

August 19, 2011

Joshua Ngoma, CEO of Tranter Holdings (Pty) Limited, talks to Jayne Alverca about his desire to move beyond making a good profit and contribute to a lasting improvement in the economic conditions and livelihoods of the people of Southern Africa.

February 15, 2011

Taggart South Africa

2011 will see Taggart South Africa emerging as a one-stop-shop for bulk materials handling projects for all southern Africa’s mining projects.

2011 will see Taggart South Africa emerging as a one-stop-shop for bulk materials handling projects for all southern Africa’s mining projects, plus the ability to offer full EPC and EPCM services to its clients.

June 25, 2010

Eskom: Medupi

The world’s largest dry-cooled power station—the largest power station in Africa—is under construction near Lephalale in South Africa. It will not only boost power production by 4,800 megawatts but will also play an important role in job creation in the region. Project manager Roman Crookes talks to Gay Sutton about the project

March 1, 2010

Eskom: Medupi

The next generation
The world’s largest dry-cooled power station—the largest power station in Africa—is under construction near Lephalale in South Africa. It will not only boost power production by 4,800 megawatts but will also play an important role in job creation in the region. Project manager Roman Crookes talks to Gay Sutton about the project.
Three years ago, construction commenced on a new coal-fired power station in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, near the town of Lephalale, close to the border with Botswana. Named Medupi—which means ‘rain that soaks parched lands, giving economic relief’—the plant will consist of six 800 megawatt units which will come online progressively, with a completion date of 2015. The position of the new plant has been carefully chosen—just a few kilometres from the Exxaro coal mine and close to the Matimba power station, it will be assured of a ready supply of fuel from the extensive but largely unexploited Waterberg coal fields.

September 30, 2009

Assmang: Khumani Mine

Heart of iron
Iron ore production has become gradually more important to Assmang (abbreviated from Associated Manganese Mines of South Africa). Founded in 1935, until comparatively recently it specialised in manganese extraction; today it has three operating divisions based on chrome, manganese and iron ore, the last of which is being dramatically extended, as John O’Hanlon learned.
Assmang’s principal iron ore mine at Beeshoek in the Northern Cape, about 100 miles north-west of Kimberley, started life as a manganese asset, according to Willem Grobbelaar, Assmang’s divisional manager of Iron Ore Operations. Grobbelaar has spent many of his 30 years with Assmang at Beeshoek, and it was always known that there was iron ore there, he says. “It was in the early 1950s that Assmang made the decision to develop iron ore mining at Beeshoek and export it. The operation started at a low level, around a million tonnes annually, but it has been expanded over the years and in 2008 we shipped 6.7 million tonnes.”

July 1, 2009

Sekoko Resources

A new cast of players
After years of being on the outside of economic activity, the South African government is trying to encourage black South Africans to play a more entrepreneurial role in the development of the mining industry, as Alan Swaby learns.
In 2002 the South African government changed the rules relating to mineral rights. Until then, whoever owned the surface also owned the rights to the minerals below the surface. The government reversed that decision and in effect nationalized mineral rights. No doubt it was a move that didn’t go down well with entrenched interests, but it did open the door for a new generation of mining entrepreneurs; in particular, it encouraged members of the black community to get involved with the mining industry as part of its Black Economic Empowerment program.