We look at the importance of the Sumbandila satellite for South Africa; We speak to the head of Evraz's international operations about the company's plans to firmly align Highveld Steel & Vanadium to the infrastructure market; And, Information and Communications Technology company GijimaAST starts to reduce the carbon footprint at its head office.

This week: the EASSy cable lands at Mtunzini beach in KwaZulu-Natal; we ask: when should South Africa order its next nuclear power station? And, the iron-ore mining industry is proving recession-proof, especially for South Africa's Kumba Iron Ore.

This week we look at nuclear power as an option for South Africa; the platinum price collapsed along with the automotive market early last year, but a much-changed outlook is now lifting sentiment; and, we look at South Africa's new aviation exhibition.

Flying unmanned aircraft in civil air space; the head of South Africa's largest steel producer on the group's power generation plans; and gold producer Great Basin Gold eyes the mid-tier horizon.

Top stories this week: diamond giant De Beers opens the Diamond Route in South Africa; the first black jeweller from the South African jewellery development projects opens his own retail shop; nd, how to enhance maths and science teaching skills through an e-learning computer-aided design course.

To a large extent, government incentives had saved the South African automotive industry from a far worse collapse than what was eventually seen in 2009, said KPMG Africa automotive practice director Gavin Maile on Wednesday. KPMG released its annual global automotive executive survey in Johannesburg. Maile said the local industry, which saw hundreds of dealerships close, significant lay-staff offs as well as shortened production weeks in 2009, would have suffered worse losses had it not been for component and vehicle on exports, as incentivised by government’s Motor Industry Development Programme.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) will expand its bus sales region to include all right-hand drive markets in Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mauritius, as well as Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The means that where buses were previously procured and looked after from Brazil and Germany, they will now be assembled by the MBSA bus plant, in East-London, with sales and service support to flow from South Africa, says MBSA bus and coach divisional manager Jan Aichinger.

The board at petrochemicals group Sasol has approved the R12,1-billion first phase of the much-anticipated Secunda expansion project, which has been designed to increase liquid fuels and electricity capacity at the world's largest coal-to-liquids (CTL) complex by around 5%. CEO Pat Davies told Engineering News Online that the last of the additional capacity would come into the system during 2013, with the board having approved the project on March 5, 2010.

Energy and chemicals group Sasol would make an investment decision on what could be a $10-billion coal-to-liquids (CTL) project in China during the 2010 calendar year, CEO Pat Davies reported on Monday. The project, which had been reconfigured from an 80 000 bbl/d plant to 90 000 bbl/d, would be the JSE-listed group's first CTL investment outside South Africa, where the technology is used to produce about 40% of the country's fuel.

In what has been described as groundbreaking way of traveling from South Africa to Europe, Air France-KLM became the first carrier to bring the Airbus A380 to Africa, which it believes proves its commitment and historical links to the continent.

Transnet confirms a R2,75-billion rise in pipeline cost as well as a year delay; and devaluing the rand would be a "very short-sighted" move for South Africa to make.

Sasol will make an investment decision on a $10-billion coal-to-liquids project in China during the 2010 calendar year; and the IMF is working on the idea of a green fund to mitigate the impacts of climate change on developing economies.

Zambia has chosen Glencore Energy as the preferred bidder to supply 1,4-million tons of petroleum feedstock over two years; and, by 2055, the Gauteng province will reduce its overall energy consumption by 18%.

President Jacob Zuma says that the prospects for South Africa's economic recovery are promising; and Transnet applies to Nersa for a pipeline network revenue increase.

ArcelorMittal South Africa announces a dispute resolution process to resolve a matter between it and Kumba Iron Ore; and Sanral raises a further R837-million.

South Africa could be getting 10% of its drinking water from the sea in the future; big business is promoting a growth vision that involves a doubling of the South African economy; Another mining summit will take place in South Africa this month, against the background of strident calls for mine nationalisation.

The Department of Science and Technology looking in to bringing back South Africa's space rocket launching capability; air traffic tracking system and South Africa one of the first countries in the world to introduce this new state-of-the-art tracking system at its airport; South African Army embarking on a programme of bridge building in the poor areas of the Eastern Cape.

The South African government is to invest in the local satellite manufacturing business; the Russians are keen to cooperate with South Africa in the field of unmanned aircraft technology; Engineering is poised to emerge as the profession of the next decade, if not the next century.

Continuous 7-day-week round-the-clock mining has been introduced at South Africa's newest gold mine; South Africans are building what is destined to be the DRC's biggest gold mine; South Africa's newest coal mine has come in hundreds of millions of rands below budget.

The world's biggest mining companies gathered in South Africa this week to launch a new fight against poverty in Africa; the State seems to be throwing in the towel in Zimbabwe. They are calling on the private sector to run the railways there; Transnet rail introducing Project Quantum Leap to boost South Africa's coal exports.