FREE DAILY EMAIL

Mo nday, September 1, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Friday, cellular services provider Vodacom unveiled the R5,3-billion acquisition of Gateway Telecommunications' carrier services and business network solutions units. This will give it access to 1,5 Ghz of satellite bandwidth on the continent, as well as its terrestrial network.

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said it was an important day for his company, as it positions it for growth in Africa, which has been limited so far.

He noted that while there will be several undersea cables circumnavigating the continent in the coming years, connections from these fibre-optic cables to the last-mile are still very poor.


Professional services firm KPMG has found in its 2008 global construction survey that only one third of companies involved in major construction projects worldwide produced 80% of their projects on time.

KPMG project advisory director Jeff Shaw said the "poor" project performance could partly be attributed to project risk management.

There was also the "anomaly" that about 59% of project owners, and 70% of contractors believe their estimates for cost escalation were sufficient, and yet so few projects were finished within budget.

Diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals on Monday announced a R7,3-billion, six-million ton expansion at its jointly held Khumani iron-ore mine in the Northern Cape province.

The feasibility study is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2009. It will follow an expansion pre-feasibility study that showed value, given conservative iron-ore pricing assumptions.

Assmang said that approval has been received for the R1,2-billion start-up capital. This will enable the mine to order long-lead items. Assmang is jointly held by Arm and Assore.

Also making headlines:

Economists say that trade and not aid is the answer to poverty
The DTI says an MIDP announcement is ‘imminent'
Copper theft is ruining the economy
African Rainbow Minerals more than triples its headline earnings
Gem Diamonds sets up a cutting and polishing facility in Dubai
And, Eldorado gold increases the cost estimates for its Turkey gold project

In political news:

Barack Obama vows to reverse the Republican legacy
Mathews Phosa says poverty is colourless and should be eradicated
Tito Mboweni says he will stay if he is asked to
And, South Africa says the Zimbabwe talks are to resume

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

SPONSORED BY

Advanced