This podcast is brought to you by Den Braven Sealants - worldwide leader in professional sealants.

Friday, September 19, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Darren Parker.

Making headlines today:

Johannesburg's stock exchange operator said on Friday that it doesn't plan on placing a ban on the short selling of stocks in the wake of a similar move in Britain.

The JSE Limited's CEO Leanne Parsons said it was "unlikely" it would ban the form of trading which allows an investor to sell borrowed stock in the hope that its value will fall.

Britain's Financial Services Authority imposed a four-month ban on short selling of financial stocks. A source briefed on the matter said the US Securities and Exchange Commission is also considering a temporary ban on short sales of some, or all, stocks.

The moves are an attempt to restore confidence in battered financial markets. This follows a turbulent week which saw the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a proposed sale of Merrill Lynch and moves by the US government to bail out American International Group.

State-owned power utility Eskom confirmed on Thursday that it was "about to start" with environmental impact assessments for "possible further coal-fired power stations" in the Waterberg and Vaal areas.

The utility's Tony Stott said it was well known that Eskom needed more base-load generating capacity than what would be provided by the Medupi and Kusile plants. These plants are currently under development in the Lephalale and Witbank areas.

He said it was premature to say what the exact size of new power stations would be. He explained that if any new power stations were built there was a range of sizes that would be considered.

Joint Simmer & Jack Mines and First Uranium CEO Gordon Miller said on Thursday that there was every possibility that the gold price could go back to 1 000 dollars an ounce once again.

Miller said that gold's safe haven in a turbulent world had been forcefully recognised on Wednesday. This was when it took its biggest single leap in history, as bond yields came down.

(audio clip)

Also making headlines:

PetroSA's Gas-To-Liquids venture scoops an international innovation award
Tunisia plans to build a 120 MW wind farm
Accentuate's Eastern Cape pilot wind farm is to be operational by the end of October
Exxaro signs a coal supply deal for Eskom's Medupi plant
Cameco cuts its 2008 uranium production outlook
And, DRDGold sells its remaining stake in GM Network to focus on its South African operations

In political news:

The ANC meets to decide Thabo Mbeki's fate
Zambia's acting president Rupiah Banda says he will keep the finance minister if he wins the election
Former judge Willem Heath calls for charges against Thabo Mbeki, Penuell Maduna and Bulelani Ngcuka
And, the US is examining its Afghan war strategy

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