Star 2024-08-23

Sibanye-Stillwater has secured a €500 million (R10 billion) green loan financing facility for its Keliber lithium project in Finland, with the funding earmarked for the construction and development of mining, processing and refining facilities in the European country. The company is making a big play for renewable and electric energy after it also acquired the Sandouville nickel refinery in France in 2022. Sibanye-Stillwater is undertaking feasibility studies to determine the viability of producing precursor cathode active material (pCAM), a powder-like substance that contains components such as nickel and cobalt, among others, for the European battery ecosystem after re-purposing the refinery. Yesterday, the group said it had secured crucial financing for its Keliber lithium project in Finland. Earlier this year, it recorded a 55.1% increase in attributable lithium mineral resources to…

Toyota Tsusho Africa (TTAF), a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation, yesterday announced the formation of a new joint venture, Ogihara South Africa (OSA), which will see an investment injection of more than R1.1 billion into the production of essential manufacturing components. This investment will increase the local content of the Toyota Hilux, Toyota Fortuner and Toyota Corolla models to allow Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) to further support the local value-added targets. TTAF is in collaboration with Ogihara (Thailand) Corporation (OTC) and TSAM in forming OSA. The strategic investment in the South African automotive industry is apportioned with TSAM contributing R545 million and the TTAF-Ogihara joint venture investing R630m. The announcement was made at a ground-breaking event that took place at the construction site at Dube TradePort in Durban. Andrew…

Acting President Paul Mashatile has brushed aside big business’s concerns over the explicit support of the National Health Insurance (NHI) by the second Presidential Health Compact that was signed yesterday, saying that the country needed a compact that was responsive to the challenges facing its health system. This comes as Business Unity South Africa (Busa) yesterday reiterated its stance by not signing the second version of the Presidential Health Compact, citing that it had been unilaterally amended by the government, transforming its original intent and objectives into an explicit pledge of support for the NHI Act. Mashatile urged all the government’s partners to keep up the good work, continue to demonstrate progress and deepen collaboration to overcome challenges. “Our nation’s health is too critical, too essential to development, to be…

SOUTH Africa’s advertising regulator has ruled that a TotalEnergies claim that it promotes sustainable development was misleading, in what it said was the body’s first decision on corporate “greenwashing”. The landmark ruling centres on a TotalEnergies campaign with South Africa’s conservation authority, SANParks, to encourage people to visit the country’s national parks. In the #FuelYourExperience campaign, TotalEnergies said it is “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection”. “That's why we have partnered with SANParks for over 60 years, so that South Africans can appreciate our country’s natural heritage and pass on a love for the environment to their children,” the campaign continued. But the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) said the claim was misleading and could lead people to believe that “sustainable development” is practised across all the company’s activities. The…

If the rand/dollar exchange rate reflects the outlook for South Africa, then we can take heart that it has held firm around R18.30 a dollar since the national elections in May and dipped below R18/dollar for the first time in more than a year earlier this month. This appears to be a tentative vote of confidence in the Government of National Unity (GNU), with 18 opposition parties now occupying ministerial or deputy ministerial positions. The question is whether this is another “Ramaphoria moment” or if our optimism is justified this time around. There are some encouraging signs that the GNU is injecting fresh air into the national government in portfolios such as Agriculture and Home Affairs. However, the reality is that the benefits, or potential benefits of the GNU, will…

Stocks at the JSE surged to a fresh all-time high yesterday as market sentiment improved further across global markets after dovish US Federal Reserve (Fed) minutes reinforced bets that policymakers will cut interest rates in September. The JSE all-share index rose 0.9% to touch 84 800 index points for the first time in history, extending gains for the second day and reaching fresh record highs, buoyed by resources, financials and telecoms stocks. Sasol surged by 6.7% to R145.00 per share, followed by Karooooo, which rose 5.5% to R675.00 per share, while Shaftesbury Capital went up by 4.5% to R34.51, and Telkom and Richemont were 2.7% and 2.6% higher to R26.71 and R2 914 per share, respectively. Mining and banking stocks were among those that fell the most yesterday. Sibanye-Stillwater’s stocks…