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SKUKUZA- Day visitors to the Kruger National Park (KNP) will no longer be able to book their entry as this will be done on a strict first come, first served basis.

"We decided to do away with this day visit booking system as it created logistical problems and was considered unfair by many of our visitors", commented the Park's Director of Public Relations, Mr William Mabasa.

Gate quotas will still be enforced, particularly over busy periods like the upcoming Easter Weekend, so it is suggested that members of the public get to their gate of choice as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

"We will honour those bookings already made for this coming weekend as long as the people that made them arrive before 9am at the gate specified on the day specified", added Mr Mabasa.

KNP gate quotas are based on considerations like the amount of tourist infrastructure in the vicinity of the gate, environmental impact and various other conservation reasons. Gate quotas do not affect guests with overnight accommodation bookings.

The KNP has ten entrance gates: Crocodile Bridge, Malelane, Numbi, Phabeni, Paul Kruger, Orpen, Phalaborwa, Punda Maria, Pafuri and Giriyondo.

The current quotas for day visitors are (# people NOT vehicles, by gate):

Pafuri – 300, Punda Maria – 300, Phalaborwa – 500, Orpen – 500, Kruger – 500, Phabeni – 500, Numbi – 500, Malelane – 500, Crocodile Bridge – 300 and Giriyondo – 300.

Labels: crocodile bridge, giriyondo, kruger, orpen, paul kruger, phabeni, Phalaborwa, punda maria

JOHANNESBERG- Shares in Palabora Mining, South Africa’s biggest copper producer located in the middle of the K2C Biosphere in Phalaborwa, gained by a quarter after the company hosted an analyst visit at which it detailed output trends and a possible R3.2bn expansion.



Palabora, controlled by Rio Tinto Group, could start a study next year into the viability of extending the mine’s life beyond 2015, according to a presentation posted on its website after the visit. The company also plans to increase sales of magnetite, a type of iron ore, and to process stocks of copper ore that were previously unprofitable to treat, the presentation said.

It’s too early to say whether Palabora will borrow money to finance the project, which could start as early as 2008 and take eight years to complete, Chief Financial Officer Charles Asubonten said yesterday from his office in Phalaborwa.

The stock gained on improved production, the weaker rand and high copper prices, said Nick van Rensburg, who attended the visit and helps manage a $300m fund at Peregrine Capital.

Shares of Palabora, which operates South Africa’s largest copper mine, jumped 25% to R44,50 since the October 6 visit. The stock climbed 8,7% on October 9, the first day of trading after the visit.

Investment in increasing the life of the mine could take place over a decade, Nick Cobban, a spokesman for London-based Rio, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday from its London headquarters. He gave no further details.

Palabora plans to mine about 11m tons of copper-bearing ore this year, and 12m in 2007/8, compared with 10m tons in 2005, according to the presentation.

An increase in production will help offset the affect of agreements the company made last year to sell a portion of its production at less than half the current market price for seven years. The contracts cut Palabora’s exposure to copper prices, which quadrupled in the last five years, spurred by Chinese demand for materials to fuel its booming economy.

Labels: mining, Palabora Mining, Phalaborwa

PHALABORWA- The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) signed a R270m deal this week with the Ba-Phalaborwa municipality in Limpopo to facilitate development in the area.

"This programme includes various projects to provide communities with basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity; improve road and rail infrastructure; upgrade sports and community facilities, and enhance economic opportunities," said DBSA manager for strategic initiatives Gwede Mantashe.

"The bank, together with other stakeholders such as government departments, will make available over the amount of R270m to fund the Sustainable Communities Programme in the region."

The deal was signed yesterday.

Labels: development, Phalaborwa

JOHANNESBURG- Palabora Mining (Palamin) [JSE:PAM] which operates South Africa's largest copper mine in Limpopo said yesterday it had produced less refined new copper in the first half of this year than in the previous first half last year because of a planned 35-day smelter shutdown in February and March.

This occurred as the copper price reached fresh peaks. The copper price more than doubled to R58,035 ($8,084) a metric tonne at the end of last month from R23,535 ($3,278) a year ago on a combination of rand weakness and strong global commodities prices.

The company said yesterday daily production from under ground operations averaged 29,392 metric tonnes in the June quarter despite two four-day stoppages in the production hoists.

Palamin MD Keith Marshall said in the group's latest annual report, released last month, that the target was 30,000 metric tonnes a day. Palamin hoisted a total of 2.64 million metric tonnes of ore in the June quarter at a grade of 0.70%, slightly lower than the grade in the March quarter. Total mill throughput was similar to the March quarter's.

Palabora mine produced 28,500 (29,700) metric tonnes of copper in concentrates in the first half of the year, while the Palabora smelter produced 34,000 (39,300) of new copper anodes and 36,200 (37,700) metric tonnes of new refined copper. Vermiculite production also fell, in line with plan, because of a decline in the plant feed grade, while magnetite production rose.

Palamin took steps in its past financial year to become a more sustainable operation.

Marshall said in the annual report this year, that management would address one of the major constraints to under ground production - which was the age of the underground loader fleet.

Last year Palamin had to reduce its underground reserves by about 60-million metric tonnes, or five years' production, to 142 million metric tonnes because of subsidence on the northwest wall of the open pit, which made it impossible to reach some of the ore.

Palamin also said today it expects first-half headline earnings to rise to between R312 million ($43 million) and R260 million ($36 million) from the previous period’s R209 million loss ($29 million), it said today.

The company said it expects basic earnings to rise to between R300 million ($42 million) and R250 million ($35 million) and that the difference between basic and headline earnings is due to an impairment charge of one of its plants and profit on sale of fixed assets.

Headline earnings exclude capital, non-trading and some extraordinary items and is a key measure of profit in South Africa.

Palamin is 49% owned by Rio Tinto Group [NYSE:RTP] and 28.5% by Anglo American [LSE:AAL].

Labels: annual report, mining, Palabora Mining, Phalaborwa

Rio Tinto, the world’s third-largest mining company, plans to sell stakes in its South African mines, including the world’s biggest titanium operation, to comply with targets for black investment. It had appointed SA’s second-biggest financial services company, Rand Merchant Bank, to advise on the sale of a stake in Richards Bay Minerals, spokesman Nick Cobban said on Friday.

Rio Tinto, based in London, jointly owns the titanium mine with BHP Billiton and is the biggest shareholder in Palabora Mining, SA’s largest copper producer.

“The process is under way on both of those,” Cobban said by phone from London, without naming the companies that have bid. “We should have something definitive on Palabora by the end of this year, while Richards Bay Minerals may run into next year.”

SA’s government in 2004 passed a law forcing miners to sell 26% of their mines to black investors by 2014. The law aims to provide some redress to black South Africans for the discrimination suffered under apartheid.

Richards Bay Minerals, where Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have for three decades dredged beach sand for so-called heavy minerals, yields 1,9-million tonnes of titania, rutile, pig iron and zircon each year.

It produces the raw material for about a quarter of the global market for titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in paint and dyes, according to the company’s website.

The $9bn a year titanium dioxide market is bigger than the global nickel market, according to the website of Randsburg International Gold Corporation, a Vancouver-based heavy minerals deposits prospector.

The pigment, for sale in North America, traded at $1,12 a pound on Friday.

Glenda Gerber, a spokeswoman for BHP Billiton in Johannesburg, referred all queries to Rio Tinto.

George Deyzel, the managing director of Richards Bay Minerals, was not immediately available for comment.

Palabora, in which Anglo American owns a 27% stake and Rio Tinto a 49% holding, produced 80000 tons of copper last year from operations in Limpopo province. It also produces vermiculite.

Rio Tinto has already sold a stake in its Chapudi coal deposit, which it plans to develop into a mine in Limpopo province, to Kwezi Mining, a closely held company controlled by black investors.

Labels: BEE, Palabora Mining, Phalaborwa

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Park Times)- A 40-year old motorist and three children all sustained minor injuries when an elephant bull overturned their vehicle in the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Friday April 8th.

The incident occurred at about 10h45 between Phalaborwa gate and Letaba camp. An eyewitness said that the people in the car had been watching the elephant from a distance with their car switched off.

The elephant then advanced on the vehicle, and before the driver could drive off the elephant attacked the vehicle between the driver’s door and the bonnet. It then overturned the car. The elephant was driven off by other tourists in the area hooting at it.

Park rangers instigated a helicopter search but could not find the bull.

Kruger’s executive director Dr Bandile Mkhize said, “A few incidences of elephant aggression have been reported recently in the park and we would like to advise tourists to be extra careful when they are at an elephant sighting in order to avoid incidents such as this one.”

by Melissa Wray, Kruger Times

Labels: elephants, hoedspruit, letaba, Phalaborwa, rangers

State-owned phosphate-rock-miner and processor Foskor plans to expand its pyroxenite mining by increasing production in Phalaborwa's south pyroxenite open pit by 20 million to 30 million tons of ore a year.

Foskor currently mines pyroxenite from the north pit and foskorite from surface stockpiles, both of which contain phosphate. The phosphate rock, in turn, is used to produce phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is used in a number of applications, including fertilisers, animal feed and in food preservatives.

The south pyroxenite pit will have a lifespan of more than 70 years at the planned production rate. Foskor is the only phosphate producing mine of this size in the country.

The project, located in the Limpopo Province, is planned in two phases, with the first phase, involving feasibility and technical-cost study, scheduled for completion by January 2007.

Project approval is planned for March 2007, and will be followed by a second phase of project implementation.

According to Foskor project executive Anton Nienaber, the project will involve the development of the open pit, the selection of the drill- and-blast and load-and-haul contractors and the design and construction of the required processing plant.

“All phases are scheduled for completion by the end of 2009, when full-scale production from the new pit is expected,” he says.

Nienaber adds that the current operation satisfies the country’s present domestic needs for phosphate rock.

The pyroxenite production expansion is required to replace the depleting reserves of foskorite ore.

“The marginally-developed south pyroxenite openpit is currently mined by other companies for vermiculite, which occurs near the surface.”

Labels: mining, Phalaborwa

PHALABORWA- A hippo killed a man who was forced to wash in a river on Monday, apparently because the water supply to his village had been reduced to a trickle.

Thomas Ngobeni, 47, was bathing in a river in Lulekani near Phalaborwa in Limpopo when the animal attacked him shortly after midday.

Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe of Mopani police said on Tuesday: "A huge hippo suddenly appeared from the water and clamped its jaws around Ngobeni's right leg."

Ngobeni shouted for help and loudly clapped his hands, drawing the attention of a passer-by.

"Amazingly, the hippo let go of the victim, possibly because of the noise and the appearance of the second man," said Ngoepe.

The passer-by helped Ngobeni out the water and carried him to a nearby road where he arranged for an ambulance to fetch him.

But, by the time paramedics arrived, the man was dead.

Council owes R87m for water

Residents have blamed BaPhalaborwa municipality for Ngobeni's death, saying that if there had been running water, he would not have to have bathed in the river.

"I think the man was forced to bath in the river because of shortage of water, because that's what we do when there is no water here," said Vende Mashele.

The water supply in the BaPhalaborwa municipal area has been reduced to a trickle because the council owes more than R87m to the local water board.

The council's in a Catch-22 situation, however, because it has struggled to collect payment from its residents.

Police have cautioned residents against hippos.

Although vegetarian, hippos are considered to be Africa's most-dangerous large game, and are reputed to kill more people every year than predators like lions or crocodiles.

Conservationists explain that hippo are extremely territorial, and protective of their young.

They also are short-sighted, and instinctively use their large jaws to chomp perceived threats.

Read more about the hippopotamus in the Kruger Biosphere here.

Labels: hippos, Phalaborwa

JOHANNESBURG- A man has been killed by lions at the Kruger National Park's Phalaborwa entrance in Limpopo, a spokesperson for the Park said on Friday.

Raymond Travers said the incident occurred on Thursday evening after the man entered the park while security guards were closing the gates.

"The man eluded security guards manning the Phalaborwa gates and ran into the bush near the gate.

"The security guards informed park rangers and began searching for the man, but because of the thick Mopani bushveld and darkness, the man could not be found and the search was called off."

When rangers resumed the search on Friday morning they found the man's remains.

Rangers found a lion with the lower half of the man's body near the Phalaborwa entrance.

Travers said a male lion was shot to recover the man's body.

Rangers are still searching for a female lion as they believe that the lion could endanger communities living near the park.

The director of the Kruger National Park, Bandile Mkhize, appealed to people living nearby not to enter the park once the gates were closed as it was dangerous and illegal.

Police are investigating the incident.

Labels: lions, Phalaborwa, rangers

JOHANNESBURG- More than R32 million will be spent on improvements to the Kruger National Park over the next few months, a spokesperson for the Park said on Friday.

"The developments and upgrades will include camps, day-visitor areas, reception buildings, entrance gates and facilities for scientific research at various locations throughout the two-million-hectare National Park," spokesperson Raymond Travers said in a statement.

The money will come from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

River-view accommodation units will be upgraded and the Keartlands guest house will be rebuilt at the Lower Sabie main camp, while the sewage works at the camp will also be upgraded.

The Orpen camp and entrance gate will be developed to the tune of R4.5 million. Existing accommodation units will be upgraded and a new day visitors' area will be created. A new swimming pool and reception building are also on the cards.

At Satara main camp, development and construction worth R10.4 million is planned.

A day visitors' site and swimming pool will be added, while the caravan park and some of the accommodation units will be upgraded.

The Frankel guest house, which was destroyed by a fire, is also to be rebuilt.

The sewage works and oxidation plant will also be upgraded.

Letaba main camp will get a facelift of about R4.5 million.

Construction of a new day visitors' site and swimming pool has already started, Travers said.

"The camp itself will also receive a new swimming pool."

Phalaborwa entrance gate will be upgraded and an office complex and research facility added. These upgrades will cost R5.8 million.

Shingwedzi main camp's tourist accommodation will see upgrades worth R1.6 million, and Punda Maria camp will receive accommodation upgrades worth about R500,000.

Some of the work has already started and most of it will be completed in the next year, Travers said.

Labels: letaba, lower sabie, orpen, Phalaborwa, punda maria, restcamps, SANParks, shingwedzi

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- Hundreds of excited villagers braved the Lowveld sun to celebrate the ceremonial opening of a new clinic in Edinburgh village on February 10th. Edinburgh is situated approximately 20 km from Thulamahashe. Residents there previously relied on a mobile unit with very little infrastructure to provide health services.

Distell Ltd, holding company of the Amarula Cream brand, with the full support of the Limpopo department of health and the tribal authorities in the Edinburgh area, constructed the clinic. The facility will include areas for patient reception, consulting and recovery.

Every year between the months of January and March, more than 6,000 women within a 400km radius of the primary production plant for Amarula Cream in Phalaborwa, collect marula fruit for further processing.

The village of Edinburgh falls within this area, with the women of the town being regular harvesters of marulas. Harvesting the fruit usually lasts about six weeks of the year and provides an income for many unemployed women.

Distell, together with Mirma products and various tribal authority leaders, established Mirma Products Development Company (a Section 21 Company) in 1998, through which the continuous supply of fruit during the annual marula harvest season is channelled.

“Distell will never forget the valuable contribution made by the local tribal authorities and their communities during the marula harvest and will continue its committed support through similar projects in years to come,” said Jan Scannell, managing director of Distell.

Other Amarula Cream sponsored community-based development projects include wire fence and brick making plants, creches and the construction of a community hall.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times

Labels: Phalaborwa

HOEDSPRUIT- Plans to upgrade facilities at the Kruger National Park's Phalaborwa entrance gate are well underway, in order to speed up tourism services at peak times.

According to spokesperson Raymond Travers, Phalaborwa is the busiest entrance gate to the park, and improvements to its facilities are long overdue.

Mr Travers confirmed that a comprehensive Environmental Impact Study would be completed shortly, after which a user-friendlier complex of facilities could be built.

He said plans were also afoot to increase reception floor space for tourists checking into the Park, and to make a larger parking area available.

Better office facilities and improved technology, to assist staff to attend more speedily to long queues of visitors, were also in the pipeline, he added.

At this stage the KNP management does not envisage the construction of accommodation facilities at or near this entrance gate, he said.

"The impact study should be completed by the end of March, and the tender process will probably get underway in April, preparing the way for construction work to possibly start in May," Mr Travers explained.

The construction work would probably take at least eight months to complete, but steps were being taken to ensure that the project did not unduly delay tourist traffic, he said.

Labels: investment, Phalaborwa

PHALABORWA- Chemoil group Sasol announced today that it had reached an in principle sale to Foskor and the Industrial Development Corporation of Sasol Nitro's phosphoric acid plant at Phalaborwa for R95 million.

The companies have agreed that Foskor will acquire the productive and storage assets of Sasol Nitro's phosphoric acid plant.

Sasol will retain the gypsum disposal dumps and will allow Foskor to deposit gypsum by-products from the plant onto the dumps for up to four years.

Thereafter, Foskor will either take over the dumps or Sasol will close and rehabilitate them.

Certain Sasol employees at the plant will be offered employment by Foskor on transfer of the assets to Foskor.

"This agreement will save many jobs. Current and predicted economic conditions have made the production and marketing of phosphoric acid unsustainable for Sasol. Our options were either to close our plant and risk the loss of 250 permanent jobs or to dispose of the business as a going concern," Sasol Chief Executive Pieter Cox said in a statement.

"This acquisition will supplement Foskor's operations in Richards Bay and ensure continued viability of our mining operation in Phalaborwa. It should be a win-win situation for all involved, especially Sasol employees and the Phalaborwa community," Foskor Chief Executive Alfred Pitse said.

The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals and negotiation of the terms of a final agreement.

Labels: mining, Phalaborwa

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- Hlanganani, meaning ‘unity’, epitomises the essence of what is turning a poverty-alleviation project into a viable self-help entity.

The Hlanganani Arts and Crafts group comprises 28 members, all unemployed, who earn a living through their art or craft that is sold at the shop at the Phalaborwa Gate of the Kruger National Park.

The Section 21 company, boasting its own constitution and committee, did not happen overnight. Hlanganani Arts and Crafts developed from Phalaborwa Arts and Crafts, which was based on a similar idea, but a lack of vision, infighting, bickering and not enough management and business skills had it on a road to nowhere.

The Foskor Development Trust assisted with essential training and the KNP provided business premises for the group to operate from. From this foundation, the members regrouped, reorganised and renamed themself.

Strictly governed by its new constitution and new vision it has grown into a unified, viable and budding project. Each member is rewarded for what she puts in. A management meeting every Thursday ensures, amongst other things, that strict quality control keeps customers satisfied.

The project qualified for the National Craft Imbizo in Sandton last year and has again for this year's show.

With the income generated by her contribution, Anna Makhubela, chairman of the group and a single parent, has supported her three children for the last six years. Elizna Breitenbach’s, husband was retrenched by the Palabora Mining Company last month, making her income critical to their household.

According to Anna, Noreen Meredith, treasurer of the project, was key in getting the group to where they are today. “Maybe God gave us this lady,” she said.

She also thanked Derek Mashele, previously of the People in Conservation Department of the KNP, for his major contributions in getting the group through difficult times.

by Lynette Strauss, Editor, Kruger Times

Labels: development, Phalaborwa