Don’t 'declare war among technologies', says Mantashe amid imminent tabling of the IRP . Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday said the latest version of the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) would be tabled before Cabinet next week and would make space ...

Basil Read makes progress in meeting business rescue plan objectives . As at the end of September, construction engineering company Basil Read has made significant progress in meeting key objectives of the business rescue plan, the embattled company reported on Tuesday. A key objective of the business rescue, it said, was to facilitate the completion of loss-making construction contracts, which would minimise the risk of the performance guarantees being called and further burdening the balance sheet.

Don’t 'declare war among technologies', says Mantashe amid imminent tabling of the IRP . Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday said the latest version of government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) would be tabled before Cabinet next week and would make space for all technologies, ranging from renewables to nuclear. “The promulgation of the updated IRP is imminent. We are taking it to Cabinet next week,” Mantashe told the annual Windaba summit on wind energy in Cape Town. If it is gazetted "there will be certainty", he added.

Japan Oct-Dec crude steel output forecast to slip . Japan's output of crude steel in the October-December quarter is forecast to fall 0.1% from a year earlier as trade tensions and uncertainty over China's economy curb exports, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said on Tuesday. Crude steel output is estimated at 25.69 million tonnes versus 25.70 million tonnes a year earlier, the ministry said.

China grants rare crude import licenses to Glencore's JV, local firm . China's commerce ministry granted crude oil import licences to two Zhejiang-based petroleum companies in eastern China, including a trading joint venture partly held by commodities trader Glencore. Zhejiang Petroleum Trading Co and Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co will receive the so-called "non-state" crude oil import licenses on Oct. 14 if there are no objections from the public, the ministry said on its website on Tuesday.

AfDB launches Cities Diagnostics tool in five African cities . The African Development Bank (AfDB) and its partners, the Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) and the Korea–Africa Economic Cooperation, have launched the pilot phase of its City Diagnostics tool in five African cities. The City Diagnostics programme is funded by the UMDF, which helps African cities and municipalities improve their resilience and manage urban growth and development better through better planning and governance, more efficient public services, as well as improving the quality of life in urban environments in Africa.

Russia denies it has any troops stationed in Mozambique . Russia’s government denied it has any troops in Mozambique, after reports that a Russian soldier was killed in the southern African country. “There are no Russian soldiers in Mozambique,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday in Moscow.

Half of turbine components for Perdekraal East, Kangnas wind farms delivered . Nearly 50% of the wind turbine components for the Perdekraal East Wind Farm and more than 45% of the wind turbine components for the Kangnas Wind Farm, have been delivered to site. It is expected that all 480 turbine components for the Perdekraal East Wind Farm, in the Western Cape, will reach the wind farm’s construction site before the end of January 2020.

In African first, knee replacement is done with robotic-arm assistance . In a first for the African continent, a full knee replacement operation has been carried out using the state-of-the-art Mako robotic arm assisted surgery system. According to Netcare, the surgery was performed at its Linksfield Hospital in Johannesburg.

Court rules Newcastle’s power will stay on . The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday granted an urgent interim interdict declaring that state power supplier Eskom should not cut power supply to Newcastle Municipality as it would be “catastrophic”. The municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) brought the urgent application to interdict Eskom from disconnecting the power.