South Africa Energy

The mining industry in South Africa is the fifth largest in the world, and today it accounts for around 5% of the nation’s GDP. The sector remains one of the country’s most important sources of employment, providing 16.2% – or nearly 1.4m – of the total formal non-agricultural jobs, according to a recent study by Quantec, an economic and...

The low cost and relative abundance of South Africa’s coal has assured it a central place in the nation’s economic life; according to the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, in 2012 94% of domestic electricity generation was derived from coal-fired thermal power stations, which consume about 130m tonnes of the 250m tonnes produced annually in...

Since 2009, murmurs about shale gas potential in the Karoo Basin have become a cacophony of controversy. On the one hand, international and domestic hydrocarbons firms are calling for significant exploration efforts to establish whether the expected deposits are commercially viable, suggesting that any major discoveries could be game-changers for...

Coping with rising demand in the face of years of underinvestment in infrastructure is a key challenge for South Africa’s energy sector. With power outages dominating headlines in 2008, maintaining a stable supply of energy to industry, business and domestic consumers is crucial to the country’s future economic growth. South Africa has also moved...

Critical in the production of steel, iron ore, which represents around 95% of all metal used each year – is a major potential growth area for South Africa. According to a March 2011 report released by Kumba Iron Ore (KIO), a South African unit of London-headquartered Anglo American and the fifth-largest seaborne iron ore supplier in the world, the...

Thanks to its economic centrality South Africa’s mining industry has long been the focus of political rhetoric, which has sometimes resulted in polarising debates. Calls from radical elements in the African National Congress (ANC) over the course of 2011 for the nationalisation of mines have badly shaken investor confidence and – while these calls...