SASOL OPENS R5.6BN COAL MINE IN MPUMALANGA

CHEMICAL and energy company Sasol officially opened a R5.6 billion colliery in Mpumalanga, it said in a statement on Friday. “Meaning ‘success’ in isiZulu, Impumelelo is one of three worldclass mines Sasol has constructed in the last decade as part of its R14bn mine replacement programme and includes Thubelisha and Shondoni. The inauguration was attended by Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe,” said the statement. Impumelelo would have the capacity to produce 10.5 million tons a year and currently employed

1 760 people, most of them from nearby communities in Mpumalanga. “In addition to sustaining some 4 000 jobs, the new mines are critical to securing coal supply to Sasol Secunda Synfuels Operations up to at least 2050,” said Sasol joint president and chief executive Bongani Nqwababa. A unique feature of the mines is the investment in technologically advanced measures that Sasol had made to ensure the safety of its employees. | African News Agency (ANA) THE CAPE TOWN City Council has received thousands of objections to municipal property valuation increases of more than a third on average – but in some cases as high as 100 percent – and expects these to flow in faster as the end-of-the-month deadline for objections approaches. “It is always last-minute here, so we expect quite a lot more to come in towards the 30th of April,” Ian Neilson, the deputy mayor of the DA-controlled council, said of the restive response from Cape Town’s 875 000 ratepayers. The City’s schedule of rates increases for single residential homes, based on sales in recent years, shows these will go up by an average of 18 percent in Noordhoek, 23 percent in Elsies River, 25 percent in Bonteheuwel and Bishop Lavis, and 28 percent in Retreat and Vredehoek. The percentages double along the Atlantic beachfront and in the leafy suburbs surrounding the inner city. | African News Agency (ANA)