SAfm anchor John Perlman:

As always on a Friday at this time, AMLive is joined by Martin Creamer, Publishing Editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly. Martin, a very good morning to you.

We talked a while back about a new world-class film studio down in Cape Town. Industry doing well down in that part of the country. I believe there is some news on the bidders.

Martin Creamer:

Never before has so much film making been taken place in Cape Town and it is fitting then that they have invited these expressions of interest for a film studio, which will be a public-private partnership with the government to try and make sure that they have facilities there would attract people to come and make blockbuster films in Cape Town. A baker’s dozen of people and firms have come and put their proposals in. These have to be firmed up now by June 02, 2003, when they have to have comprehensive business plans, and the government, as of yesterday, was supposed to have had incentives in place. The two need to come together and people think that ground breaking on this project could take place before the end of the year. We are talking about a very big film studio there. The preferred size of the sound studio’s alone is 2 200 m2 and 20 m high and there could be eight of those. It is going to be quite a big complex that they will need quite a lot of ground.

John Perlman:

Surrounded by sea Cape Town, but sometimes not quite enough water to drink. It has been a problem for the Mother City, but solution in sight I believe.

Martin Creamer:

The issue of future water is now resolved and it has been resolved in the form of the Berg Water project near Franschhoek. This will start going ahead this financial year. Something like R1,4-billion has been allocated to the development of this. There will be something like 425 jobs. Preference will be given to the people that has been long standing in the local area. It will add 81-million m3 of water to go to 535-million m3. It will also have an interesting way of charging, it will be a sort of “user-pays” type of charging and it won’t just be payment for storage, but payment for consumption. This will stand the city in good stead because it was the financial arrangements that held-up the Skuifraam dam, which forms part of the Berg Water project, and planners are already talking about the next big water project going ahead on the same principle of financing in 2012.

John Perlman: Randfontein, one of our oldest gold towns but coming up with something new?

Martin Creamer:

The casting technology that is now being used in Randfontein is taking the world by storm. The ancient Egyptians gave us the lost wax process. Normally when people cast precisely they use wax. They create the mould in wax and later melt off the wax and then you have precisely cast product. But not as precisely as they can do now in Randfontein with the new BDL process. BDL stands for the first names of the three inventors. They have come up with a new composite material that they are not telling us about, keeping it very close to their chests. It involves ceramics and alpha and beta plasters and it is a “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t” material. The new process provides tremendous definition, depth and detail in casting of gold. This is one of the reasons why they won the contract to make the Lord of the Rings rings. Frodo’s ring, made in Randfontein, has incredible detail. Talk now is that they are negotiating with other movie companies and we may see gold artefacts and jewellery made in Randfontein for movies like Xena, Hercules, Hulk and The Fast & The Furious.

John Perlman:

Hopefully those movies will be shot in Cape Town. I’m not sure what Xena and Hulk will do in Cape Town, but I’m sure it won’t be to distructive.

Thank you Martin Creamer, publishing Editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly.