SEKHUKHUNE, South Africa (Reuters) – For Esther Moloto, the 32-year-old owner of a little house on top of the world’s biggest platinum reserves, the sound of progress is falling plaster.

“Before the mine came there were no cracks. Now there’s blasting every day and they are everywhere,” she says, pointing to a kitchen wall riven with fissures that she blames on underground explosions from the nearby Twickenham mine, owned by Anglo Platinum ALPJ.J, the world’s biggest platinum company.

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (Reuters) – South African miner Optimum
Coal Holdings (OPTJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a surge in first-half earnings,
boosted by higher production and output from the Koornfontein
mine it bought last year.

Optimum Coal, one of South Africa’s largest producers, said
outlook for thermal coal remained robust, as global supply was
constrained due to severe weather in other regions.

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 2 (Reuters) – South African Mining
Minister Susan Shabangu said on Wednesday the government would
act if necessary to ensure sufficient coal supplies for power
generation but backed off declaring coal a strategic resource.

State-owned power utility Eskom has been struggling to
secure all the coal it needs to power Africa’s biggest economy,
while coal miners have been increasingly focusing on exports due
to the promise of higher returns from shipments to Asia.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African energy group Sasol (SOLJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it would pay $1.05 billion for a 50 percent stake in Canada’s Talisman Energy (TLM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TLM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Farrell Creek shale gas assets.

The deal is the petrochemical group’s first shale gas buy in a move to boost its gas portfolio and to provide feedstock for future gas-to-liquids plants based on its technology.

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 3 (Reuters) – South Africa’s proposed plan
to build six new nuclear plants by 2030 came under scrutiny on
Friday as industrial leaders, bankers and environmentalists
questioned cost, timelines and feasibility in public hearings.

In a draft of its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2), the
government proposed that nuclear and renewable energy play a
bigger role in plugging South Africa’s power deficit as it seeks
to halve its reliance on dirtier coal-fired plants.

By Agnieszka Flak

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters Life!) – Pairing a gold rush legacy with a metropolitan vibe, Joburg or “Jozi,” as South Africa’s economic hub is known to many of its residents, is rugged and chaotic, yet strangely irresistible at the same time.

A city of migrants, Johannesburg boasts a mix of African and European cultures that tempt the senses and have led to the emergence of South Africa’s “Afropolitan” style.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 16 (Reuters) – South Africa’s platinum
supply may rise a touch next year after falling slightly in 2010
on safety-related stoppages and wage strikes in the world’s top
source of the precious metal, Johnson Matthey said on Tuesday.

The producer of four fifths of the world’s platinum will see
supply fall by 1 percent in 2010 from last year to 4.59 million
ounces, the refiner said.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Miners are expected to
strike from late on Friday at Gold Fields’ (GFIJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) South Deep
mine in South Africa over demands for black people to have a
greater role in the management of the company.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said some 6,000
workers would participate in the strike but Gold Fields said
that only two-thirds of its 3,000 full-time staff at the mine
were NUM members.

CAPE TOWN, Nov 3 (Reuters) – An investment decision on the
long-delayed gas-to-power Kudu project in Namibia could be taken
within a year, depending on an offtake deal for the gas with
South Africa’s power utility Eskom, a Gazprom official said.

Boris Ivanov, head of the international arm of Russian gas
export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), said the upstream part of the
$1.2 billion project was proceeding according to schedule and
budget, but no drilling would be done without a contract in
place.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s power utility Eskom said on Monday it expects to invest billions of rand to reduce its carbon footprint and become a strong player in solar thermal energy.

State-owned Eskom relies on coal for more than 90 percent of its power supply, but has vowed to invest in renewable energy and more efficient coal technologies to reduce from 2025 its absolute carbon dioxide emissions, which totaled 225 million metric tones in its last financial year.