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Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam veneatis vestibulum. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam veneatis vestibulum. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam veneatis vestibulum.
12 people were treated for breathing difficulty this morning following a diesel leak at a factory in Epping Industrial, in Cape Town.
It is understood that diesel had spilled from a boiler, and workers were affected by the fumes. ER24 paramedics said that when they arrived on the scene they found the affected employees outside the factory. The employees were assessed and treated, those needing further care were transported to various hospitals for further medical care.
The cause of the leak is to be further investigated.
The City of Tshwane is seeking proposals to renovate two coal-fires power plants to help end electricity shortages caused by insufficient generating capacity at the state-owned facility.
The municipal authority, which covers an area with at least 2.9 million inhabitants, wants to restore output at its Pretoria West and Rooiwal power plants to their design capacity and to alter the fuel they use from anthracite, an expensive quality coal, Dorah Nteo, chief sustainability specialist at the City of Tshwane, said in a presentation at Bloomberg’s Johannesburg offices on Tuesday.
The Pretoria West power plant, built in 1952, has a design capacity of 180 megawatts of power while the Rooiwal facility, erected in 1963, is designed to produce 450 megawatts. Both are operating considerably below their capacity partly because they have been designed to use anthracite, a grade of coal that is more profitable to export, she said.
Tshwane, like other South African municipalities, is struggling with national legislation that makes it difficult for cities to buy power directly, she said. “As cities we are still not allowed to buy electricity,” she said. Still, the municipality has been able to work within the regulations to have a biogas-to-power plant supply a BMW car factory in the city, she said. It’s also proceeding with a plan to build a 40 megawatt solar-power facility.
What “we need to make sure of is that we have embedded generation,” she said. “We will consume the electricity from within the city so that we demonstrate somehow that we are not buying or selling.”
Three people have died and 14 others required medical treatment at a gold mine in Ghana, after inhaling toxic fumes. a spokes person for the Shaanxi Mining Company, Maxwell Wooma has said: “We can confirm that three people have died out of the inhalation of toxic fumes from our underground operations.”
An investigation has been launched but the company said those affected were two groups of underground “cleaners” tasked with cleaning rock particles after blasting in the mine. “This is the first time we have suffered this,” said Wooma. “We adhere strictly to the mining regulations and safety standards for the five to six years that we have been operating and developing this mine.”
Ghana is Africa’s second largest gold producer and exports of the yellow metal, along with other minerals and oil, helped boost the country’s economic growth in recent years until a recent slide.
A clean up operation is currently underway at the Port of Durban following a fire which broke out at the Africa Sun Oil Refineries in Mobeni on the morning of the 26 March 2015. On Thursday morning a huge plume of smoke could be seen coming from the factory. It is not clear if there have been any injuries caused by the fire as yet. No information regarding the potential cause of the fire and the subsequent spill has been released.
Transnet National Ports Authority said it is working around the clock to contain the “edible” oil spill. Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Mantshongo said: “In an effort to prevent the oil from entering the port, the port authority has deployed booms across the Umhlatuzana Canal, including at the confluence of the canal and the port. This has helped to contain the oil within the silt canal area adjacent to the Bluff Yacht Club.” Transnet has said that bio-absorbing agents are being used to absorb the oil, the oil is also being skimmed from the surface of the affected areas.
The Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife and KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife have been alerted by the port as there is a risk of fish, birds and other organisms being affected by the spill.
An investigation into the cause of the methane explosion that happened at the Harmony Gold mine just outside of Welkom in the Free State is underway. The incident occurred on the 21 March 2015 at approximately 17:30 pm. It is believed that a spark may have ignited methane gas thus causing the explosion. The explosion occurred whilst mine workers were filling in a mine shaft as part of the rehabilitation process. Harmony Chief Operating Officer Alwyn Pretorius had said: “While doing rehabilitation, we suspected that a methane explosion happened.”
Residents have said that the explosion could be felt kilometers away, and that a massive cloud of smoke could be seen. Juliet Kruger a resident had said: “My husband and I heard a noise,” “I asked him what it was, maybe an earthquake, but it didn’t feel like an earthquake, because the vibration was on top. And then we ran out.” Several houses houses had broken windows and in some, ceilings had fallen down. The explosion has injured six construction workers and has damaged a number of nearby homes and vehicles.
Harmony Gold mine has taken full responsibility for the incident. Alwyn Pretorius has said: “We have met with the executive mayor and the community to assist with the damage,” “We also have set up a special operation centre close to where the damage mostly occurred so that community can come and report damages.”
Harmony Gold says it’s prioritising reparations for residents.
The Mining Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi had said on Monday 16 March, 2015 that he expected to start issuing shale exploration licences later this year. Ngoako Ramatlhodi told Reuters: “At the moment we are going through the consultation process (with stakeholders such as communities),” and that “We should finish the consultations by the middle of this year and that will enable us to issue licences.”
The Royal Dutch Shell is pulling back from its shale projects in South Africa due to lower energy prices although it is still seeking an exploration licence for the onshore Karoo basin, its country manager said on Monday. Crude oil prices since have more than halved since June of 2013 and has put high cost projects such as shale gas exploration in jeopardy around the globe, Shell South Africa chairperson Bonang Mohale told Johannesburg station Talk Radio 702. Mohale said: “The reason to go to a low cost holding position is as a result of a difficult period for world (prices).”
Shell’s retreat is a blow to the South African government, which has been criticised by oil firms for delaying issuing exploration licences, most notably in the Karoo, which is believed to hold up to 390 trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves. Shell has been waiting for six years for an exploration licence.
However green groups and landowners in the Karoo have argued that exploring for shale by fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, would cause huge environmental damage.
It is believed that a Northern Cape Farmer from the Richmond District allegedly poisoned between 200 and 1000 blue cranes. The blue crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) is currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN’s list of threatened species.
According to reports, farm workers were instructed to dip corn in a poison called Temic, also known as Aldicarb, to deliberately poison the birds. The workers were then further instructed to collect the bird carcasses and bury them in porcupine and aardvark holes.
Dr Gerhard Verdoorn is currently investigating the alleged “massacre” of the birds, he is said to be conducting toxicology reports on some of the carcasses to try and establish what poison was used to poison the birds. Verdoorn has said that he did not want to believe that the allegations are true but that all the evidence thus far points to the fact that hundreds of blue cranes were deliberately poisoned. He has also said that the misuse of any form of Aldicarb is a serious crime under the Fertilises, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, 36 of 1947.
“It is prohibited to use any insecticide for any other use than what is indicated on the label. On the label there is no indication for its use on birds and such action therefore makes it a criminal offence,” Verdoorn said. He further stated that the poisoning of any animal without a permit was in contravention of nature conservation laws in all provinces. He requested that any information that could assist in the investigation be relayed to him on 082 446 8946.
Eco Impact Legal Consulting are the appointed Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs) for the proposed residential development on erf 11330 Stellenbosch (DEA&DP REF NO: 16/3/1/1/B4/45/1114/14) & proposed residential development on erven 10866 & 11008 Stellenbosch (DEA&DP REF NO: 16/3/1/1/B4/45/1105/14).
Notice is given that a public meeting for the proposed construction residential developments on erf 11330 and erven 10866 & 11008, Stellenbosch will be held at Luckhoff High School – Bloekom Avenue, Stellenbosch at 4pm to 8pm on the 26th of February 2015.
Documents pertaining to this project are also available for download on the Eco Impact website under the “public participation” tab.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
The 2015 Annual African Mining Indaba Conference kicked off today in Cape town with 7000 delegates in attendance from around the world. The delegates can look forward to a keynote address from former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as presentations from a number of the leading companies that operate in the mining sector. Mining bosses and industry leaders are expected to give there input on the state of mining on the continent.
A key focus for South African miners is the review of the controversial Petroleum Resources Development Act, which made headlines when President Jacob Zuma made the decision to send it back to Parliament. Delegates can look forward to the session in which they can debate what is the continent’s most important resources and where they are being mined.
The Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi has commented that the time has come for the mining industry to change the way it deals with tuberculosis (TB) among its workers – “Our weakness, which is the weakness of many healthcare systems around the world, is that we put more emphasis on curative that preventative healthcare.”
An investigation has been launched by the South African Breweries (SAB) management to establish the cause of a fire which broke out at Bellville Depot South African Breweries in Stikland on Sunday 25 January, the fire is said to have caused extensive damage.
Corporate affairs manager, Sanele Gaqa, has reported that there were no injuries. All employees were evacuated in time and the disaster management team was on the scene in 30 minutes.
Fire officials say that trucks and plastic containers are among the items that were burnt in the blaze. Theo Layne from the City of Cape Town said: “There are plastic containers, wooden pallets and trucks that were on fire.”
