Significant reductions in energy use continue to make news as South Africa enters 2014. Read on page 14 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the implementation of the Tswelopele project cutting 150 711 MWh a year off power use within Glencore-Merafe’s Rustenburg chrome smelting complex.

The venture’s 21.3% reduction in power use followed the introduction of technology that boosts energy efficiency. Tswelopele ensures that less ore is used to make the same amount of ferrochrome at a complex that makes up just one of the more than 150 mining and metallurgical sites within the large diversified Glencore group headed by CEO Ivan Glasenberg.

The London- and now also Johannesburg-listed Glencore is also one of three companies developing iron-ore mines in the Republic of Congo (RoC), where ASX-listed exploration and development company Equatorial Resources hopes to secure a licence to mine iron-ore by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Read on page 11 of this edition of Mining Weekly of South Africa’s black-controlled Exxaro also being active in iron-ore in the RoC, where port and rail are being prepared to cope with bulk materials handling. Equatorial is applying for a two- million-ton-a-year rail allocation and access to export facili- ties for Panamax vessels at Pointe-Noire. The Cameroon- Congo-Gabon region is often likened to Australia’s iron-ore-rich Pilbara. However, the ‘each company for itself’ infrastructural approach of the Pilbara is being rejected and replaced by as much corporate collaboration as feasible.

An abundance of nontraditional investment capital is said to be available for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in stressed areas of the resources space. “Whether the buyers are private- equity firms or strategic investors, there appears to be an abundance of investment capital that is available, creating the opportunities for increased synergies and penetration into new markets by way of M&As,” KPMG corporate finance and Quebec corporate finance MD Martin-Pierre Roussel is quoted as saying on page 12 of this edition of Mining Weekly.

Deloitte South Africa mining industry leader (assurance) Tony Zoghby has expressed similar sentiments. More private- equity investment is expected in 2014. Eight mining funds raised private equity of $8.5-billion in 2012, ahead of mining majors impairing $75-billion worth of assets the following year. With initial public offerings on stock markets having become a rarity and banks shying away from overcommitting their balance sheets to mining finance, mining majors have pursued bond financing, cut back on capital projects and divested out of noncore assets, which is providing those with cash with an opportunity to fix and sell troubled assets. In South Africa, private-equity investment is expected to take place at asset level rather than at holding company level.