Wednesday, June four, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Hilary Klopper.

Making headlines today:

State power utility Eskom is assessing more than 15 cogeneration bids submitted ahead of its May 31 deadline for the so-called Pilot National Cogeneration Programme, and the utility’s chairperson, Valli Moosa, said on Monday night that the group was still hopeful of facilitating the introduction of about 3 000 MW of cogenerated power between now and 2012.

The utility had, somewhat controversially, been given the mandate to be the country's ‘single buyer' for power arising from industrial facilities, as well as new independent power producers, and had launched two schemes specifically designed to encourage cogeneration. The first was the PNCP, bidding for which closed last month, while the other was the ‘Medium Term Power Purchase Programme' for any project able to reach commercial operation by 2012.

Eskom had also unveiled a ‘Multi-site Baseload Independent Power Producer Programme', which could see it contracting with big IPPs over a longer horizon.


South African new vehicle sales continued their downward trajectory in May, dropping 23,4% year-on-year, after public holidays, price increases, violent outbreaks and higher lending rates let the air out of their tyres, an industry body reported on Tuesday.

McCarthy Motor Holdings chairperson Brand Pretorius said that new vehicle sales had dropped to their lowest level since December 2004. He went on to warn that further interest rate increases would make industry job losses "inevitable".

On average, gold producers will need the price of gold to stay north of $700/oz if they are to turn a profit in the current environment of rising costs, Barrick Gold CFO Jamie Sokalsky said on Tuesday.

Industry cash costs are currently around $450/oz to $500/oz and, taking into account the cost of bringing on new production, depreciation, development costs, exploration, administrative expenses and so on, “that's easily $700/oz to $800/oz”, Sokalsky said in webcast presentation.

The price of gold set a new high of $1 033,70/oz on March 17, but has since corrected and was trading at around $879/oz on Tuesday afternoon.

Barrick expects that the bullion prices have further to go this year, however, as dwindling mine supply and higher prices for fuel, labour and other costs would provide a “strong floor” for the gold price, Sokalsky said.


Also making headlines:

Steel prices to rise by up to 6% next month
Lamberti resigns from Telkom board
Reliance eyes private equity help for MTN control
Metorex enthused by ‘positive’ DRC developments
Homeland Energy sets its sights on US coal mine
And, a revolutionary new ‘intelligent' drill rig lops 10% off fuel consumption

In political news:

The Black Lawyers Association says there is no need for Hlope to step down
US warships to leave Myanmar after aid is refused
Mugabe defends agricultural policy at food summit
Obama declares victory
And, the UN climate change chief is confident of a 2009 deal

That’s a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit engineeringnews.co.za, miningweekly.com and polity.org.za