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Metals & Engineering News

Tenova reorganises businesses

By: Donna Slater 20th April 2020 As part of metals and mining company Techint Group, Tenova has reorganised its businesses and reviewed its governance structures, with the appointment of former metals division CEO Roberto Pancaldi as Tenova CEO. Former Tenova CEO Andrea Lovato has been appointed CEO of Tenova's Takraf business. →

Hulamin expects Covid-19 to negatively impact on earnings

By: Simone Liedtke 17th April 2020 South Africa’s national lockdown is a significant disruption to JSE-listed Hulamin’s operations and has resulted in a decrease in demand for its products, particularly in the general engineering and automotive sectors. Consequently, Hulamin expects this to negatively impact on its earnings before... →

Organisation calls for govt assistance to ‘reshape’ steel industry post-lockdown

By: Simone Liedtke 17th April 2020 The decision to put South Africa under lockdown as part of its response to Covid-19 “has put further pressure on the steel industry”, says research organisation Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (Tips). In a policy brief, it elaborates that, depending on the length of the lockdown and the... →

Modular power solutions increasing in Africa

By: Simone Liedtke 17th April 2020 In most power plants across Africa, clients prefer to install modular-type solutions, also known as containerised solutions or e-houses, and dry-type transformers fit “perfectly” within this scope, says transformer supplier and specialist Trafo Power Solutions MD David Claassen. The preference... →

DAVID CLAASSEN Trafo also designs and customises its transformers according to client specifications and requirements

Business is booming for supplier

By: Darren Parker 10th April 2020 Stainless steel vessels and tanks supplier Metal Tank Industries has noted a definite market upswing in the past eight months, particularly in the food and beverage sector, as well as in the industrial sector, in terms of mineral oils, petroleum oils, chemicals and agrochemicals production.... →

MAKING IT WORK Metal Tank Industries’ streamlined production processes has helped it become more competitive in terms of costing

Hulamin to delay release of full-year results

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 9th April 2020 JSE-listed Hulamin has indicated that it will use a two-month extension granted by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to finalise its results for the year ended December 31, 2019; however, it will endeavour to release these as soon as possible. The company indicates that it will... →

Moody’s cuts outlook for steel industries further

By: Marleny Arnoldi 9th April 2020 Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service already had negative outlooks for steel industries across the world, largely based on weak fundamentals in 2019, but the Covid-19 outbreak has made conditions worse and prompted the agency to cut the outlook for steel industries further. Moody’s says the... →

Kogi Iron sees ongoing interest in Nigeria-based cast steel project

By: Simone Liedtke 7th April 2020 ASX-listed Kogi Iron is seeing ongoing interest from potential new investors in its Agbaja cast steel project, in Nigeria, where Kogi is starting to see global capital flows to the commodity sector. Owing to the rapid escalation and global impacts of the coronavirus, or Covid-19, Kogi and KCM... →

A location map of Kogi Iron's Nigerian cast steel project.

Global GDP to contract 1.9% this year, spark commodity oversupply, says Fitch

By: Simone Liedtke 6th April 2020 Owing to unprecedented lockdown in much of Europe, the US and across the globe, the world is currently experiencing considerably lower economic activity, which in turn significantly reduces commodity consumption, says ratings agency Fitch Ratings. As a result, it expects global gross domestic... →

Seifsa highlights health and safety through yearly awards ceremony

By: Donna Slater 6th April 2020 The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) is awarding companies that invested in protecting the lives of their employees, through the sixth edition of the yearly Seifsa Awards for Excellence to be held in Gauteng on May 28. “Employees are, without a doubt, the... →

BMG gets go ahead to operate during lockdown

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2020 Engineering solutions company BMG has been authorised as an essential service to provide its components and support services during the remainder of South Africa’s lockdown period ending at midnight on April 16. The BMG team is on hand and its distribution centre in Johannesburg is stocked to... →

Hulamin finalises acquisition of rolling slab business from Isizinda venture

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2020 JSE-listed aluminium supplier and exporter Hulamin says all conditions have been fulfilled around the transaction between its subsidiary Hulamin Operations (Hulamin Opco) and Bingelela Capital to acquire the rolling slab business from Isizinda Aluminium company. The Isizinda company owns the... →

Self-sanitising coatings may help curb the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals

By: Donna Slater 1st April 2020 An innovative antimicrobial coating innovation developed locally by the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) researcher and inventor Michael Lucas, could provide a supplementary sanitising solution to help control the spread of the novel coronavirus in hospitals and other medical facilities. The... →

Michael Lucas

Fitch Solutions says volatility to continue driving metals prices lower

By: Simone Liedtke 30th March 2020 Research agency Fitch Solutions expects volatility to continue playing to the downside for metal prices in the coming weeks owing mainly to bearish investor sentiment on the back of the widespread Covid-19 pandemic. The agency notes that metal prices started the year on a strong footing as the... →

South32 cuts expenditure as operations are adjusted

By: Esmarie Iannucci 27th March 2020 Diversified miner South32 has announced a $160-million cut to capital expenditure over the next 15 months, with the miner also announcing a number of operational changes in response to COVID-19. In response to a 21-day lockdown in South Africa, Soutnh32’s manganese assets in that country, along... →

South32 CEO Graham Kerr

Aveng says all operations in South Africa, some abroad, closed

By: Marleny Arnoldi 26th March 2020 Construction company Aveng has taken various measures aligned with restrictions amid the global Covid-19 outbreak at its operations in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “These events are highly complex, present significant uncertainty and... →

SAICE appoints new CEO to drive organisation’s vision

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 23rd March 2020 The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) on Friday announced that its executive board has appointed Vishaal Lutchman as CEO. Lutchman previously held the position of divisional director in development, transportation and infrastructure at WSP Group Africa. →

Vishaal Lutchman

Cluster emphasises importance of local manufacturing

By: Halima Frost 20th March 2020 It is of utmost importance to be able to draw a definitive line between locally manufactured and imported products in the South African pumps sector, as locally manufactured products need to take precedence over imports in projects, says industry association South African Pump Cluster chairperson... →

HOWARD JONES There is a need for a definitive line between locally manufactured and imported products in the South African pumps sector

Facility upgrades help to ramp up supply

By: Halima Frost 20th March 2020 Local high pressure pump supplier Werner South Africa Pumps & Equipment has successfully improved its turnaround time from between four and six months to between two and three months to manufacture a truck mounted pump system, depending on the unit ordered. “This is subsequent to the... →

UNDER THE PUMP Werner Pumps has managed to increase its turnaround time, to relieve the pressure of increased demand, by upgrading its facilities

Pump failures at mine addressed

20th March 2020 Last month, mechanical seal and pump supplier Mechanical Rotating Solutions (MRS) was asked to address the multiple failures experienced by a coal mine in Mpumalanga as a result of coupling misalignment between the pump shaft and the motor shaft. MRS MD Franscois Steenkamp suggests that after... →

SHAFTED A misalignment between the pump and motor shafts had been causing failures at a coal mine

Every effort must be made to ensure economy ‘does not grind to a halt’

By: Terence Creamer 16th March 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni stressed on Monday that, before contemplating any possible stimulus package to address the negative economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, all efforts should be geared towards ensuring that the already weak domestic economy “does not grind to a halt”. A failure... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

PSV placed into business rescue

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 16th March 2020 JSE-listed PSV Holding’s board has resolved that the company is in financial distress and has opted to file for business rescue. A business rescue practitioner (BRP) will be appointed in due course. →

Company reaches new heights with award

By: Cameron Mackay 13th March 2020 Height management solutions providers Skyriders received an award from a major petrochemicals producer in December last year for achieving significant reductions in its maintenance costs and boosting health and safety at one of the producer’s refineries, in Mpumalanga. The award was for a... →

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Skyriders created a methodology and risk assessments for this maintenance project, including a trial run finished last October, and the actual maintenance undertaking in November

Treasury calls for comment on proposed export taxes on scrap metal

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 11th March 2020 The National Treasury has published for consultation the ‘Basic Approach for Export Taxes on Scrap Metal’, following the announcement made by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in the 2020 Budget Review regarding the introduction of such a tax. The proposal is related to the phasing out of the current... →

Palladium/platinum substitution tech unveiled by BASF, PGM producers

By: Marleny Arnoldi 10th March 2020 Specialised chemicals company BASF Mining Solutions has successfully finished developing a tri-metal catalyst technology that enables partial substitution of palladium with platinum in light-duty gasoline vehicles, without compromising on emission standards. The company has been hard at work to... →

Palladium can now successfully be substituted with platinum in automotive catalytic converters

Seifsa invites entries for sixth Awards for Excellence

By: Marleny Arnoldi 9th March 2020 The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has invited manufacturers operating in the metals and engineering sector to submit their entries for the Seifsa Awards for Excellence. The awards are now in the sixth year, honouring both small and big manufactures that... →

Merafe swings to loss on low demand, prices

By: Marleny Arnoldi 9th March 2020 JSE-listed Merafe Resources says low global demand and lower prices for ferrochrome had dampened its financial performance in the year ended December 31. The company reported a headline loss a share of 1.8c apiece, compared with headline earnings a share of 27.2c in the year ended December 31,... →

Opinion: South African steel industry is an industry in distress

6th March 2020 In this opinion piece, South African Iron and Steel Institute secretary-general Charles Dednam outlines the difficulties being faced by the domestic steel industry and calls for the creation a ‘level playing field’ to enable the steel industry to contribute more fully in stimulating value-added... →

South African Iron and Steel Institute secretary-general Charles Dednam

Company to improve processes with new furnaces

By: Cameron Mackay 6th March 2020 Local metalworking company Thomas Foundry is set to improve and increase the efficiency of its metalworking and manufacturing processes with the purchase of four new induction furnaces. The order was placed in September last year to replace three decommissioned furnaces – a 1 t furnace and two 5... →

FORGING AHEAD The company has purchased 4 new furnaces to reduce electricity consumption, improve quality and productivity, improving environmental compliance and reducing maintenance costs

Localisation to boost industries

By: Cameron Mackay 6th March 2020 Government’s intention to increase demand for locally manufactured content to at least 60% across industries will have a positive impact on the local casting, forging and machining sector, says nonprofit entity the Casting, Forging and Machining Cluster (CFMC) of South Africa project leader Steve... →

CLUSTER COLLABORATION The CFMC is a development purposed vehicle which will enable companies to work together to achieve what could not be achieved individually

4IR, rail projects can grow local foundries industry

By: Cameron Mackay 6th March 2020 The local foundries, forges and casting industry can benefit from following the global trend of metal casting companies implementing Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. An abundance of infrastructure projects, such as rail projects from State-owned rail utility Transnet, has the... →

GLEN DIKGALE There are opportunities for the local foundry industry. Government is increasingly talking about sourcing equipment locally, so we need to comply with requirements

Local foundry leads to AI partnership

By: Cameron Mackay 6th March 2020 With a strong focus on growing its international business, machine learning solutions provider, DataProphet, has signed a partnership with a leading metallic parts enhancement company, Norican Group, to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the foundry industry. This came... →

SMART FOUNDRIES The aim is to improve manufacturing processes using AI in the foundry industry

Numsa heads to Constitutional Court to have Aveng Trident Steel workers reinstated

By: Marleny Arnoldi 4th March 2020 The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has approached the Constitutional Court to seek the reinstatement of 733 workers who were dismissed by Aveng Trident Steel. The steel fabricator in 2015 issued a Section 189 notice, informing workers of its plans to restructure the... →

Companies urged to gear up for gas revolution in Mozambique

By: Kim Cloete 3rd March 2020 Key players in the gas industry have urged the South African government and companies to gear up for the tremendous opportunities that the gas resources uncovered in Mozambique will offer. A final investment decision (FID) has been taken for two projects, while the FID for a third project is... →

Germany moves into hydrogen with lessons from Opec, Russia

By: Bloomberg 3rd March 2020 Germany is taking its first steps to build an economy based on hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, seeking to deliver both green growth and to avoid being trapped by a small cartel of suppliers. Ministers have been quietly lining up deals with nations including Nigeria that might produce hydrogen... →

Iron-ore soars as China port stocks dip, stimulus hopes grow

By: Reuters 2nd March 2020 China's iron-ore futures hit the upside limit on Monday as declining stockpiles at ports indicated steel mills' improving appetite for the raw material, while expectations grew Beijing will roll out further support for its paralysed economy. iron-ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended up 5.8%... →

Sector in dire need of transformation

By: Mamaili Mamaila 28th February 2020 The manufacturing industry, and particularly the metals and engineering sector, is in much need of transformation, says national employer federation the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa). →

MICHELLE NORRIS Women working in the metals and engineering sector are predominantly found in administrative job functions

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autox Africa Aluminium Hulamin Energy Export Mining Paper Stainless Steel Steel Technology Building Business Fencing Industrial ... more

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