Exploration needs to go ahead to determine how much of the shale gas in South Africa’s Karoo is commercially viable. Gas industry stakeholders supporting and opposing the exploiting of shale gas reserves in the Karoo basin reached that consensus at Gas Week 2013, as can be read on page 16 of this edition of Mining Weekly. As a frontrunner in developing the natural gas sector in South Africa, global petroleum company Shell expounds the belief that the significant challenges inherent in shale gas exploration and development can be mitigated through the application of industry best practice with a transparent regulatory environment. While maintaining a strong stance in favour of fracking, Shell promises to seek out alternative water sources, such as brackish water, as well as full disclosure of the chemicals used. With the moratorium on exploratory fracking now lifted, Shell is waiting for exploration permission to drill at least six wells within the first three-year licence period.

The apparent opting out of labour union membership in South Africa amid a wave of wildcat strikes could mark a rise in dismissals, law firm Routledge Modise employment director Prince Mafojane predicts on page 13 of this edition of Mining Weekly. The opportunity to find a resolution through collective bargaining is fading against the background of worker notions of union abandonment. Mofajane reports the perception among wildcat strikers that unions have been more preoccupied with politics than with ‘bread and butter’ workplace issues. The current tough global economic circumstances are aggravating matters still further.

An economic head-on collision is looming between Chinese business imperatives and Africa’s aspirations to derive more benefit from their continent’s minerals. That is the view of J&J Group executive director Michael Solomon. Read on page 7 of this edition of Mining Weekly of Solomon’s contention at last week’s Frontier Advisory China-Africa Business Summit of Africans wanting to see primary, secondary and tertiary development emanating from mining ventures on the continent compared with the primary Chinese pursuit of taking the continent’s raw materials to China, where costs are lower. There was also tension between the Western imperative for short-term value growth and the Chinese imperative for long-term value growth.