Ship explosion in Jacobsbaai Jacobs Bay

With an explosion that rocked Jacobsbaai, the massive barge carrier Margaret, which was a new vessel when she ran aground off the Cape West Coast, in June last year, was reduced to a smouldering wreck almost half her original size.

According to the salvors, the explosion tipped into the sea the top six river barges the Margaret was carrying as cargo. The barges were salvaged.

"She looks totally different now," said the head of salvors Smit Amandla Marine, Dave Main.

He said the explosion had dropped the vessel from a height of 50m to 30m and had allowed the barges to slide off and got the dry dock walls off. He said though some barges would be damaged at least two would be "okay".

The Margaret, which was built in China, was being towed from the shipyard to the Netherlands when the tow rope broke in a storm near Saldanha Bay on June 24.

The eight-storey-high barge was carrying 12 river barges and two floating drydocks, and was estimated to be worth about R300m.

Its Dutch owner spent R21m trying to salvage the barge before he ran out of money.

Durban blasting expert Charles Mitchell died last week after falling off a ladder while helping prepare the barge for the blast.

Mitchell, of Kloof, was the blasting contracts manager for the Durban-based Blasting & Demolition Services, and had just started work with a team of demolition experts when he fell from a 3m-high ladder.

He had been wearing safety equipment, including a helmet.

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Source http://www.iol.co.za

Springbok under 20 team coming to Vredenburg school

Former SA Schools stars Lean Schwartz (flanker) and Jean Cook (flanker) was on Tuesday named in the SA Under-20 starting line up that will take on the Argentinean Under-20s at the Vredenburg RFC on Wednesday at 17h00.
Both players represented the SA Under-18 High Performance team in international friendlies against France last year. They will team up with captain CJ Stander (No 8) who represented the Baby Boks at the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship in Japan to form the loose-forward combination for the home side.

Fullback Garth April, centre Jaco Taute and lock Kenny Okafor, who missed the SA Under-20’s recent tour to France due to injury, are all selected in the 24-man squad for Wednesday’s international.

Taute and Ruan Combrink will form the centre combination. Wingers Clayton Blommetjies, who was a member of the SA Under-20 squad that competed at the 2009 World Championship in Japan, and Jamba Ulengo, will join April to complete the back three formation for the hosts.

Francois du Toit, who has been one of the outstanding performers for the Shimlas in the FNB Varsity Cup this season, has been selected at flyhalf, while Justin van Staden, who represented Tuks during their 64-17 defeat to Maties in Monday night’s Varsity Cup match, has been drafted on to the bench for Wednesday’s Test. Van Staden got seven points for Tuks after kicking one conversion and scoring one try.

“We want to build on from where we left off in France," said SA Under-20 coach Eric Sauls.

“There were certain aspects in our play such as our defence, scrums and line outs that were good, but can get better with the more games we play as a team. Due to the extreme cold and wet conditions in France, it was difficult to play much attacking rugby which is also something we hope to get right during our games against the Argentineans.

“However we all know that any Argentinean national team scrums well and have always boasted a strong pack of forwards. So I am looking forward to see how our guys compete up front against them.

“Argentinean teams have always prided themselves with solid defensive systems. We want to test ourselves against them and see how we cope with our plays.”

SA Under-20s: Garth April, Clayton Blommetjies, Jaco Taute, Ruan Combrink, Jamba Ulengo, Francios du Toit, Frederick Muller, CJ Stander (c) , Jean Cook, Lean Schwartz, Mlungisi Bali, Peet Marais, Marcell van der Merwe, Francois du Toit, Wessel du Rand. Reserves: Shaun Melton, Brummer Badenhorst, Sebastian de Chaves, Hendrick van der Waldt, Helmut Lehmann, Kenny Okafor, Tiaan Dorfling, Gary van Aswegen, Justin van Staden.

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Source http://www.sarfu.org.za

Saldanha Bay possible coal export port.

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 22 (Reuters) - expects to focus its diversification strategy on coal and copper, with a new coal mine envisaged within the next three to four years, head of its coal unit said on Monday.

Mangisi Gule said the growing power demand in the country justified the investment, and said the new mine would most likely be built in the north-eastern Mpumalanga province where the necessary infrastructure was already available.

In the future, the company is also looking to grow in the northern Waterberg region, touted to become South Africa's new coal hub, and in other parts of the continent.

ARM, which is developing all of its coal projects in a joint venture with Xstrata, commissioned the Goedgevonden coal mine late last year, which is expected to produce 6.7 million tonnes of thermal coal per year by 2011.

Of this projected output, 3.2 million tonnes will be exported by 2011, and 2.5 million tonnes is scheduled to be shipped this year.

ARM has been promised its own export allocation of 3.2 million tonnes at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), which is expanding to export up to 91 million tonnes of the mineral from 76 million tonnes.

But bottlenecks on the rail lines to the port have dented confidence in logistics group Transnet and its ability to bring more coal to the port than the 61 million tonnes it managed to rail last year.

Gule said it was likely ARM would only get parts of its export allocation this year, and would seek to export the remaining coal via Xstrata's allowance.

'We would like to get our promised 3.2 million tonnes allocation... but given what Transnet said ... this year we think 1.7 million tonnes (of our own allocation) is more realistic,' he told Reuters after a results presentation.

Separately, Executive Director for Business Development Stompie Shiels said that Transnet had agreed to grant three manganese producers, including ARM, a total rail allocation to Port Elizabeth of 4.4 million tonnes.

He declined to say how much of that would go to ARM, but said that the company would also seek alternative routes via the ports in Durban, Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay.

ARM, which has interests in nickel, coal, iron ore, platinum, chrome and manganese, reported an 80 percent drop in headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of December, owing to lower commodity prices and a strong rand against the U.S. dollar.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak) (For more Africa cover visit: http://af.reuters.com -- To comment on this story email: SouthAfrica.Newsroom@reuters.com)

Source here

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Darling on the West Coast hosts Adenco 400 race

Competitors hoping to gently ease into a new season will be in for a rude surprise at the Adenco 400, the opening event of this year’s Absa Off Road Championship, in the Western Cape on 19 and 20 March.

The event, again based in Darling on the West Coast, is now in its eight year and the organisers have found new bits to add to an already tough challenge. Over the years the route has undergone various changes but, in keeping with a request from the MSA Off Road Car Racing Commission that events should be technical, this year’s race will be an even tougher challenge.

“Last year we managed to reduce average speeds by a considerable margin and the leading cars completed the course in just under six hours,” said route director Bill Bright from the Cape Peninsula Motorcycle and Car Club. “We have again had great co-operation from landowners and some new bits and pieces have allowed us to introduce some additional hurdles.

“The race will again be run over two 165 kilometre loops, and the changes should reduce speeds. We estimate it will take the lead cars more than six hours to complete the course, and I think we have succeeded in coming up with a route that is both challenging and interesting.”

The Donaldson Prologue on March 19 to determine start positions for the next day’s race will start at 13:30 from the Darling Sports Club. Donaldson Filtration Systems which last year backed the highly successful Donaldson Nissan team, has joined Ford and Toyota as partners with Absa in the off road championship, and will sponsor all eight prologues this season.

The 96 kilometre prologue will provide competitors with an inkling of what they can expect during the race, and will take crews towards Kraalbosdam on the R315 to Yzerfontein. With good grid positions a high priority for race success, Donaldson Prologues this season are going to provide for some hectic racing.

The race on March 20 will start and finish at the Darling Sports Club. The designated service point will also be located at the club with the route again spectator friendly.

“There are plenty of good spectator viewing points along the prologue and race routes,” said Bright. “These are all within easy reach of the start/finish and are accessible via main roads.”
- Credit: MSA Off-Road Racing Commission

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Explosives to break up barge carrier in Jacobs Bay

By Melanie Gosling
Environment Writer

The wreck of the massive barge carrier Margaret, which towers over Jacobs Bay like a block of flats, will be broken up using explosives in a controlled demolition operation that will topple its cargo of smaller barges into the sea.

This is the sad end to what was a brand-new barge carrier when it ran aground on June 24 after the tug towing the vessel lost the tow connection in a storm near Saldanha Bay.

The barge carrier, which stands about eight storeys high, and its cargo of 12 river barges and two floating dry docks, were valued at around e30 million (about R300m). When it went aground, the vessel, which has no engines, was being towed from the shipyard in China where it was built to its owner in Rotterdam.

The Dutch owner spent about R21m trying to salvage the vessel, but got nowhere. After running out of money, he was forced to abandon the Margaret, which then became the responsibility of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa).

Debbie James of Samsa said on Thursday they were concerned that if they left the Margaret, it would become a safety hazard as the waves would weaken and break up the structure, and so had instructed the salvors Smit Amandla Marine to remove the wreck.

Taxpayers will foot the bill. Any of the barges or dry docks that are saved will be sold by Samsa to defer costs.

Kevin Tate, salvage master at Smit Amandla Marine, said they were not going to blow up the wreck, as had been done with the Jolly Rubino on the Zululand coast.

"This will be a sequential blast to undermine the structure so it will topple. We'll use a total of 125kg of explosives at a time with a 42 millisecond delay in between, so you'll get a ripple effect instead of one massive blast. One big blast would blow out windows but this won't. There will be lots of water and spray and a bit of flame and smoke," Tate said.

On Tuesday the salvage team cut away the wall of the top dry dock, which has to be removed to allow four of the river barges to slide into the sea after the blast. The 91 ton steel wall, which caused a 30m-high splash when it landed, has been towed to Saldanha Bay and sold.

"The top four barges are in good condition and can probably be saved," Tate said.

Preparation work included plugging the dewatering holes in the barges and cutting the fastenings that secure them.

The explosion will take place at the end of the month.

Everyone within 500m of the wreck will be evacuated an hour before the explosion and the access road to Jacobs Bay will be closed three hours before the blast.

Source www.iol.co.za

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$1.2-billion refinery for the West Coast. Saldanha Bay

One of four selected coastal areas in South Africa stands to be home to the world's first integrated pure metals refinery plant producing titanium, zirconium, magnesium and silicon, upon completion of the feasibility study.

Rare Metals Industry is a consortium made up of the multi-billion-rand National Empowerment Fund, the IDC, Magnesium and Metals (a US and Russian consortium) and TJTI, another locally-based company.

The consortium members have jointly invested about R40-million to conclude a pre-feasibility study.

Speaking at the launch of the project in Johannesburg yesterday, RMI's project chairman Donovan Chimhandamba said the $1.2-billion project would create 2800 skilled jobs during its construction phase and in excess of 5000 jobs once the plant becomes operational in 2014.

He said the potential locations for the plant include Saldanha Bay, East London, Port Elizabeth and Richards Bay.

"In addition, a much-needed skills transfer is likely to occur through our Russian partnership, further strengthening South African mining know-how and long-term sustainability," Chimhandamba said.

He said South Africa was best suited for the project as it possessed an "abundance" of mineral resources and because of its ranking as the world's second-largest producer of titanium slag after China.

Chimhandamba said titanium is difficult and expensive to produce, and would be useful in high-technology industries such as aero-space, nuclear and chemical processes. "It is envisaged that at full operational capacity, the plant will produce 50000 tons of magnesium, 15000 tons of titanium, 8000 tons of silicon and 2000 tons of zirconium annually, coupled with some derivative products.

"The other identified importance of the project to South Africa is that it will increase the country's export-earning potential as well as BBBEE participation at an early stage," he said.

Hilton Lazarus, IDC's head of chemical industries said his corporation supported the initiative "because of the strategic nature of beneficiating locally mined minerals as outlined in the National Industrial Policy Framework".

Source http://www.iol.co.za

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Saldanha Bay on South Africa’s west coast is the preferred site for titanium processing plant

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Rare Metals Industries Ltd., a venture with South African, Russian and U.S. investors, said it may list shares to fund a titanium processing plant costing as much as $1.5 billion.

“It could be an attractive option,” RMI’s Project Chairman, Donovan Chimhandamba, said by phone from Johannesburg today. Chimhandamba also works for the strategic project fund at South Africa’s National Empowerment Fund, one of the partners in the planned titanium project along with the country’s state lender, the Industrial Development Corp. Magnesium and Metals Ltd. and TJTI Ltd. are the other partners.

The plant would use Russian technology to produce titanium, zirconium, magnesium and other metals, Chimhandamba said. A local plant would allow South Africa to export processed metals rather than the raw metals currently shipped by companies including Rio Tinto Plc and Exxaro Resources Ltd., he said.

South Africa’s government is pushing companies to add value to commodities before they’re exported to boost income from the nation’s natural resources. Titanium prices are “exorbitantly high” at the moment as supplies are insufficient to meet demand, according to Chimhandamba.

The investors have committed 50 million rand ($6.5 million) to pay for a prefeasibility study that may be completed in six to eight months, while developing a funding model could take 18 to 36 months, Chimhandamba said. The preferred site for the project is near Saldanha Bay on South Africa’s west coast.

Titanium is increasingly being used in industries such as aerospace and defense because it is “as strong as steel and light as aluminum,” Chimhandamba said.

Source www.bloomberg.com

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