Every Friday morning, SAfm's AMLive's radio anchor Caesar Molebatsi speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Friday's At the Coalface transcript:

Molebatsi: Welcome back from Tanzania and from the Serengeti.

Creamer: Thank you.

Molebatsi: We hear that Botswana is making its biggest-ever investment - a whopping R25-billion - to secure its medium-term economic future.

Creamer: Botswana's economy hangs on a thin-thread. It's a diamond thread. Now, 45% of government income is from diamonds, nearly half from diamonds. And 70% of that Debswana income is one from one mine, the Jwaneng mine. It is the most valuable piece of real-estate on the planet, there is nothing on the earth as valuable as this.

But, this mine has been pumping out these diamonds, pumping out hundreds of carats, but if people did nothing to that mine it would have ground to a halt in 2017. That is less then seven years away. So, the government has now got to invest another R25-billion. When we say the government, it is the government plus the private sector, because Debswana is half-owned by De Beers.

This is what they are doing, they are putting 24-million Pula into Jwaneng mine so that when 2017 comes, it will still have 102-million carats, taking it to 2024. But, even that is not such a long horizon. So we can see this tremendous mine, the prince of pipes, is almost a life line for that country, now getting an extension of life going to 2024.

What happens after 2024? This is the big Cut 8 project, they have to keep widening and deepening the pit. Its going now from 300 metres to 600 metres with the new cut and then it will go with Cut 9 to 800 metres. They are looking at again further extending, but even the Cut 9 will take it 2030 and beyond that they might have to go underground.

They probably will go underground. So this mine will probably keep pumping into that economy, but it is a clear signal that the economy of Botswana needs diversification.

Molebatsi: The world's biggest ferrochrome producer is to build its long-delayed multi-billion-rand smelter project - with the nod of approval from Eskom.

Creamer: We have in South Africa the world's biggest ferrochrome produce, it is Xstrata, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and its partner here is Merafe, which is closely connected to the Bafokeng community. They own 20,5% of it and it has fantastic assets. But, it came to a stand still as far as growth is concerned in the ferrochrome business from 2007, because of the energy constraint.

Xstrata doesn't just mine the chrome and take it out in raw form, which will be a tragedy for South Africa, it actually beneficiates it so it uplifts that value many fold and then it exports. But, to do that you need a lot of electricity, because you have got to smelt all of that material. They have earned themselves an earn-in as far as Eskom is concerned, because they have started to cut their traditional consumption of electricity.

They have saved a lot of electricity themselves through new technology. They have got Premus technology, which uses a third less electricity then other peer technologies. So it is able to not only earn its credit by cutting back, but its also now coming in with a plan where it will generate its own electricity, where it will actually produce 600 MW.

Because, we have a situation with the business case at the moment, to produce your own electricity is good, you can do it at a cheaper rate then Eskom can and Xstrata have got their own discard coal. They will not do the traditional route of building these massive big power stations, they will go the modular route where you bring in what you need.

If you are looking at 600 MW you can do four 150 MW units and then link them up, which is what they are planning. You get these off the self so you don't have that long building period. So all in all the crisis of electricity has actually brought some benefits, with people cutting back on the use of electricity and also doing own generation.

Molebatsi: With unions demanding a total eradication of mine hostels, Gold Fields has been quick to plough R550-million into brand new housing for miners.

Creamer: There are two big decisions taken by the mining industry. The one was taken on June 30, which was the historic joint declaration between business, government and labour where they said that from 2014 there will be one person per room. This whole idea of hostels must go.

That was firmed up on September 13 with the revised Mining Charter where they say this becomes law. Gold Fields have been well ahead of the game. They started two years ago with half a billion rand project to upgrade their housing, because more then half of their 50 000 workers are migrant workers.

They have got a combination where they've put up these really attractive brick houses in Glenharvie with grass and paving around, it really looks good and people pay the princely sum of R10 a month for that and they get their electricity and water thrown in.

But, at the bigger end, they have started to upgrade their hostels. In 2006 there used to be six people per room, which was a travesty of justice, non-salubrious. They have now got that down to two people per room, in fact, on average there is about 1,6 people per room. They have got to get that down, like everybody else, to one person per room.

They see this not as an obligation, but as a big investment that if they make their workers have a much better accommodation and they look to nutrition and they've even got gyms and sports recreation, really boosting it, then they can get their productivity out of the mines.

Molebatsi: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly, he'll be back with us at the same time next week.