Legal Update Bulletin

By: Christy van der Merwe
Published: 1 Feb 08 - 10:25, Mining Weekly Online

South Africa's power supply debacle continued on Friday, although "things were looking a lot better", Eskom spokesperson Steve Lennon told Mining Weekly Online, and mines were once again given the go-ahead to ramp up production to 90% of electricity consumption. After some of South Africa's largest mines halted all production seven days ago, they were told they could slowly "ramp up" production to 80% on Wednesday and 90% on Friday, but after experiencing fresh supply problems on Thursday afternoon, Eskom retracted its statement and told mines to stop ramping up power usage to 90%, and continue at 80% consumption. By Thursday 9pm, however, Eskom reinstated the clearance to go ahead and scale up consumption to 90%. ...continue reading

By: Dennis Ndaba
Published: 1 Feb 08 - 9:54, Mining Weekly Online

South African mine deaths increased for the first time in six years last year, bucking a promising downward trend that began in the mid-1990s. ...continue reading

By: Irma Venter
Published: 1 Feb 08 - 16:43, Mining Weekly Online

Embattled power utility Eskom will decide later this year whether it will go ahead with its 100-MW solar energy project, earmarked for the Northern Cape. “We are hoping for a decision to continue with the project – or not – by March or April,” says Eskom renewable energy corporate specialist Louis van Heerden. ...continue reading

By: Christy van der Merwe
Published: 31 Jan 08 - 9:26

The all-too familiar electricity load shedding throughout South Africa, which resumed on Wednesday evening, continued on Thursday, after Eskom reported a capacity shortfall of 4 000 MW. ...continue reading

By: Olivia Spadavecchia
Published: 31 Jan 08 - 17:42

Power utility Eskom has requested South African mining companies, as well as steel and iron producers to stop ramping up power usage to 90% on Thursday, spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said. ...continue reading

By: Terence Creamer
Published: 31 Jan 08 - 15:47

Rival nuclear vendors Areva of France and Toshiba's Westinghouse, of the US, confirmed on Thursday that they had submitted bids to South African power utility Eskom, which initiated an "invitation to negotiate" with the two companies in November last year. In a statement, Areva said it had formed a consortium comprising South African engineering and construction group Aveng, French contractor Bouygues and the world's leading nuclear-energy utility EDF, also of France. ...continue reading

By: Olivia Spadavecchia
Published: 31 Jan 08 - 17:42
Power utility Eskom has requested South African mining companies, as well as steel and iron producers to stop ramping up power usage to 90% on Thursday, spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said. ...continue reading

By: Christy van der Merwe
Published: 30 Jan 08 - 11:30

Over 50 mines have already been inspected under the legal component of the national safety audits, which began in December and were expected to take about five months to complete, Department of Minerals and Energy's (DME's) chief inspectorate of mines, Thabo Gazi told Mining Weekly Online on Wednesday. ...continue reading

Business Day (Johannesburg)
30 January 2008

GREATER competition for land between the private and public sectors is expected this year as a result of the urban boundaries that have been put in place, say property commentators. For the first time there is a shortage of zoned land in SA. ...continue reading

Cabinet received detailed reports on the current electricity situation and the steps that we need to take to redress the situation. It is the view of Cabinet that the unprecedented unplanned power outages must now be treated as a national electricity emergency that has to be addressed with the urgent, vigorous and co-ordinated actions commensurate with such an emergency situation. It is imperative that we all become a national movement to conserve electricity in all our areas whilst ensuring that key functions, safety and security are not compromised. Government is very confident that we can do this and the response we have had from organised business and large users makes it clear that all stakeholders are committed to cooperating in this emergency campaign. The previous experience we had in the Western Cape further increases our confidence that we can quickly begin to manage the most disruptive aspects of the shortage of electricity supply. ...continue reading