Africa

Bus transport could have been made for South Africa. Though it’s a big country with huge variety across its nine provinces, unlike many of its neighbours it has an excellent road network and one of the four major intercity bus lines travels to nearly every city and village. Not only is cross-country bus travel in South Africa cheaper than flying but it is far more satisfying. The Rainbow Nation’s landscape is as varied as its people.

According to the Zambia Tourism Board this nation surrounded by eight neighbours has over 40,000 kilometres of roads, only 8,200 kilometres of them tarred and another 8,000 kilometres all weather gravel road. The rest are made of compressed laterite and vary in condition from reasonable to rather bad, being vulnerable to the seasonal rains.

Derived from the Latin word “concretus”, meaning compact or condensed, concrete has had an immeasurable impact on both the ancient and modern world with its usage dating as far back as 800 BC. Today the global use of concrete is twice that of steel, wood, plastics and aluminium combined, and is only exceeded by the usage of naturally occurring water.

Set Point Group is a South African company, comprising seven distinct businesses serving mainly the mining industry and a few unrelated sectors. It’s an interesting mix, with a rather unusual genesis. 

Seeing as Africa produces more than 60 different metal and mineral products, and is a major source of several of the world’s most important commodities, it is little wonder that it remains an area of profound interest for mining companies. While exploration and mining developments across the continent have undoubtedly increased in recent decades, there is still considerable scope for expansion. 

One of the cornerstones of social and economic development in today’s competitive global marketplace is collaboration. In 1997 the national ICT regulators in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) came together to form a joint body, the Communication Regulator’s Association of Southern Africa (CRASA), whose remit was to facilitate harmonisation of regulatory frameworks across the region, for the benefit of SADC Citizens. 

As the mining sector in South Africa has evolved, so too have the mechanisms, tools, items of equipment and software needed to service what is a dynamic, complex and challenging industry. It was in the 1980s that MineWare’s managing director, Paul Saker, first identified the fact that this rapidly growing industry required access to much more detailed financial analysis when it comes to fixed and variable cost modelling.

How can it be that a significant copper deposit, known for over 100 years, owned and operated by a progression of operators – including two leading international names – can struggle along for 93 years and then become an overnight success in 2005?

Ghana holds a particularly special place in recent African history, being as it was the first sub-Saharan Africa nation to gain independence from European colonialism in 1957. In the near five decades since the country has gone on to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world with one of the highest GDP per capita in all of Africa.