From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. The South African arm of Germany-based defence and security group Cassidian has designed and manufactured what it describes as the world’s most modern submarine periscope in its class, at its purpose-built facility in Irene, Centurion. Natalie Greve has the story. Natalie Greve: The R25-million SERO 250 submarine periscope system is fully designed and manufactured in South Africa, and features high-performance optics, an infrared camera, a still camera, laser capabilities, as well as night vision equipment.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. The United Manganese of Kalahari mine, or UMK, has become a real South African success story after it unveiled its newly built offices and warehouse.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Royal Philips Electronics is continuing its programme of installing more than a hundred Community Light Centres across Africa with six new centres in South Africa.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Unilever South Africa is sourcing 40% of its sunflower oil from farms in Limpopo that use only yearly rains to grow their crops.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies, in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Affairs, has launched the Electric Vehicle Industry Road Map.

The local private equity industry added 10.4% to its total funds under management in 2012, closing the year at R126.4-billion and surpassing the previous four years’ combined cumulative growth of 4.6%. This is according to the yearly Venture Capital and Private Equity Industry Performance Survey of South Africa, conducted by auditing firm KPMG and the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (Savca), which Savca CEO Erika van der Merwe said revealed a “reignited” industry. “This year’s survey reflects an industry on the move, driven by a revitalised global investor appetite and beckoning opportunity in the African and South African markets,” she said at the release of the report on Wednesday.

Worries about the current economic situation and the possibility of more instability in the mining sector must be understood in terms of the economic impact of political uncertainty and the political impact of economic uncertainty. Put differently, is South Africa heading towards a perfect storm of negative economic and political developments?

Nasdaq-listed solar photovoltaic (PV) group First Solar on Tuesday said that it was engaging with several sub-Sahara African governments around the benefits of installing utility-scale PV systems to diversify their energy mix and accelerate energy security. While it is mainly targeting South African utility Eskom, First Solar regional director for sub-Sahara Africa Johan Cilliers said it was also focusing on a number of countries in East and West Africa.

South African medical engineering group Lodox Systems will, later this year, release the fourth version of its digital X-ray screening technology, dubbed the Xmplar-dr, which the company says is “unrivalled” as the world’s only high-speed full-body digital scanning device. Originally developed in the 1990s as a security device to prevent the theft of diamonds by workers at mining giant De Beers’ operations, the scanner was later adapted for use in medical trauma management to provide an almost instant diagnostic image of a patient’s injuries.

The first bauma Africa trade fair is expected to bode well for the construction industry in Africa, as it has already attracted the interest of key international construction companies, says bauma Africa CEO Elaine Crewe. “Government’s multibillion-rand spending plan on infrastructure will benefit the industry. The task at hand is to face the challenges of labour unrest and tender irregularities,” she explains.

The global steel industry has returned to a solid growth footing in 2010; the RMB/BER Business Confidence index fell by seven points to a level of 36 in the second quarter; and Exxaro plans to develop clean energy power projects with a total capacity of 350 MW.

The new east-to-north directional flyover at the Gillooly's interchange is opened to traffic; Eskom's discussions with Anglo American regarding a price agreement for the Skorpion zinc mine are "progressing well"; and the CrossPolo becomes the second model of the refreshed Polo series to be introduced locally.

Gautrain announces costs to use the Gautrain first-phase service; Eskom is granted an urgent court interdict to prevent union members from striking from May 26 onwards; and transport workers call for possible sympathy stoppages.

SA transport unions reach a proposed wage deal with Transnet; South Africa could sell its stake in ArcelorMittal's South Arica unit if competition authorities find the company raised steel prices without good reason; and 300 000 jobs could be created in South Africa's renewable energy sector over the next ten years.

South African iron-ore miner Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) on Tuesday effectively moved its ongoing dispute with ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) from the realm of a pure dispute over pricing, into one that could now also affect supply, indicating to Engineering News Online that it could as "a last resort" terminate supply to Africa's largest steel producer. In a note to shareholders, the JSE-listed miner said that, unless there was urgent resolution on an interim pricing and payment mechanism, the basis upon which it would continue to supply iron-ore the steel producer could be affected.

South Africa’s exciting new local iron breakthrough is expected to hit the commercial ground running; Mozambique is surprising on the upside with a big new high-value iron aspiration of its own; the Botswana government is pulling out all the stops to attract non-diamond mining investment.

South Africa has no option but to do more with its metals and minerals than simply ‘dig dirt’, says a top Government strategist; A new approach to the granting of mineral rights is on the cards, to put an end to old mineral discoveries being dressed up as brand new mineral finds; and ine project developers are taking such a market beating that they are taking steps to collaborate and cluster, in order to shield their badly bashed balance sheets.

South African-developed mineral rights technology is taking the mining world by storm; South Africa has been selected as launch pad for a global tech firm’s new surge into the African continent.

New Canadian platinum contenders are showing huge confidence in South Africa’s platinum future, despite the metal’s current problems; Mine union pioneer, Dr James Motlatsi, this week called for radical changes to South Africa’s discredited migrant-labour system; and while Australians are succeeding brilliantly in making mining and agriculture work together, South Africans remain hesitant.

Successful new gold mining technology is being tipped as the game changer for the entire South African mining industry and not just gold