Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

Statistics South Africa reported on Tuesday that an estimated 89 000 jobs were created during the fourth quarter of 2009, as signs of stability in the labour market emerged.

The increase in the number of jobs created came after three consecutive quarters of massive job losses, however, Stats SA DDG Kefiloe Masiteng warned that the nature of the jobs created was mostly informal, and elementary.

The country's official unemployment rate dropped slightly to 24,3%, from 24,5%, in the third quarter, with the Eastern Cape and North West provinces having the highest unemployment rate, while KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape had the lowest.

Stats SA reported that all industries showed a sense of stability, except for the agriculture and private households, which lost 38 000 and 31 000 jobs, respectively, in the final three months of 2009.

Mining group Exxaro Resources is planning to significantly grow its energy generation projects up to 2030.

Exxaro Growth Energy manager Thomas Garner says that the group is aiming to become a cleaner energy independent power producer in the Southern African region.

The group has set itself a target of growing its renewable energy power generation capacity to 2 000 MW by 2030.

It has already initiated a number of projects, including a 50 MW wind farm on South Africa's West Coast, a 40 MW wind farm in Tsitsikamma, a 210 MW solar plant in Lephalale and a 200 MW solar plant in Upington.

Also making headlines:

Transport parastatal Transnet announces that it will sell bonds worth $2-billion on the London Stock Exchange using its Global Medium-Term Note programme.
Steel giant ArcelorMittal South Africa shows signs of turning the corner after a dismal 2009.
Zimbabwe plans tax breaks to attract power project investors.
And, a government source says that Ghana hasn't blocked a planned $4-billion oilfield stake sale to Exxon Mobil by Kosmos Energy but still threatens to do so if the parties don't abandon the deal.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.