India eyes coal fund to buy assets abroad

India's coal ministry has proposed setting up a sovereign fund to buy coal assets abroad, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on Friday, as the country struggles to secure supplies to meet booming demand mostly from its power producers. A...

Global consumption of uranium to quadruple over next 30 years

A leading academic predicts that the global demand for mined uranium will rise at least four times over the next 30 years. It would be driven by rising electricity demands and the scaling back of fossil fuels.

SA's electricity system tight but manageable – Eskom

A dramatic slowdown in global economies slashed commodity demand, leading to the temporary closing of metal alloy smelters across South Africa. However, with demand once again on the increase, especially from Asian markets, mining companies are...

Electricity system tight but manageable, says power utility Eskom

A dramatic slowdown in global economies slashed commodity demand, leading to the temporary closing of metal alloy smelters across South Africa. However, with demand once again on the increase, especially from Asian markets, mining companies are...

Sasol earmarks R4,5bn for new Mpumalanga coal mine

Petrochemicals company Sasol was comfortable that it would have the required coal reserves for the various phases of its Secunda Growth Programme, executive director responsible for the energy businesses in South Africa, Benny Mokaba assured on...

Poland targets clean coal technologies to reduce carbon footprint

The Polish government is focusing its efforts on clean coal technology, with the aim to comply with reducing its carbon footprint by 20% by 2015, however, the lack of funding and investment is a challenge that is slowing down the process, says...

Coal ash cleaning up

The rapid industrial expansion in South Africa during the late 1970s and early 1980s, created a surge in the demand for electricity. Given the vast coal reserves South Africa possesses, the additional capacity was provided by the erection of...

Canadian company says first unit of its 1 000-MW Botswana plant will come on stream in 2011

The first unit of Saber Energy Corporation’s 1 000 MW coal-bed methane (CBM) linked power plant, in Botswana, “should be online in late 2011”, says company vicepresident Francois Bardenhorst.

US firm offering renewable electrical power to South African mines

A decentralised, biomass-fuelled power-supply system called Bioten has the ability to produce renewable electrical power for mines in South Africa, says US-based biofuels company Heartland Biofuels MD Cornelius A Van Milligen.

Uranium's outlook positive for next 10 to 20 years

Not many commodities can promise a sustained upwards price level beyond a single day’s trading in the fickle markets, so often driven by the policy of the quick buck, and punctuated by the nerve-span of the jittery investor. However, the...

Uranium-production industry's outlook very positive for next '10 to 20 years'

Not many commodities can promise a sustained upwards price level beyond a single day’s trading in the fickle markets, so often driven by the policy of the quick buck, and punctuated by the nerve-span of the jittery investor. However, the...

New mining frontier opens in Madagascar

After nearly four decades of self-imposed isolation, in the past couple of years the island Republic of Madagascar has been reopening itself to the outside world and to foreign investment.