Creamer Media’s 'Projects in Progress 2023' supplement considers some of the major project developments under way, including high-profile electricity, hydrogen, industry, petrochemicals and gas, as well as water projects in the engineering sector. The supplement also includes some mining projects in the coal, diamonds, gold and platinum sector, as well as a few of the lower-profile public and private developments. What remains apparent is that the private-sector pipeline for projects remains especially weak, owing to poor levels of investor confidence. Nevertheless, project activity is continuing across most of the mining subsectors and in some pockets of industry.

The clean energy transition has unleashed unprecedented demand for key minerals and metals. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance, longevity and energy density. Rare-earth elements are essential for permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicle (EV) motors, while copper underpins electricity-related technologies. These so-called critical minerals and metals are considered the building blocks for the green and digital economy, without which there will be no batteries, no EVs, no wind turbines and no solar panels. Creamer Media’s ‘Battery Metals 2023: Powering the green economy’ report provides an overview of the battery metals market in this context. Globally, the focus of the report is on supply and demand and the creation of a sustainable battery value chain, as well as the environmental and social impact of battery metals production. In Africa, the report’s focus shifts to some of the key mining projects under way on the continent.

The telecommunications sector is expected to be the fastest-growing industry in Africa over the next five years as Internet connectivity improves – a positive development since growth in telecommunications spurs growth in other sectors. South Africa, therefore, must facilitate digital infrastructure development, and “stop writing policies and strategies for 2050” until it can execute on the strategies already in place for the period up to 2025, Inclusive Society Institute’s (ISA’s) ‘Rejuvenating South Africa’s Economy – An ICT sector perspective’ report contends. It must do this by driving an inclusive agenda, clarifying how the country will deliver affordable connectivity and devices, and how platforms for local content can be developed to stimulate demand. Creamer Media’s ‘Telecommunications 2023: Prospects for consolidation’ report examines South Africa’s telecommunications sector in respect of its connectivity profile, the trends in the sector, the challenges it faces, policy and regulatory developments, as well as the companies that are driving the sector forward.

International Energy Agency executive director Dr Fatih Birol has said that the world is facing its “first truly global energy crisis”. However, he argues that faster clean energy transitions could help to moderate the impact of the crisis. South Africa has committed to reducing its greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, subject to appropriate financial support, and premised on enabling a just transition for affected communities and regions. Government’s Just Energy Transition (JET) Investment Plan outlines investments valued at a combined R1.50-trillion that should be made in the electricity, electric vehicle and green hydrogen sectors over the five years from 2023 to 2027 to enable South Africa to meet its climate commitments, stabilise energy supply and cushion vulnerable workers and communities. Creamer Media’s “Energy Transition Report 2023” examines South Africa's JET plans by delving into the state of its electricity sector and its current 6 000 MW electricity shortfall; its State-owned power utility Eskom and the challenges it is facing in alleviating that shortfall, and independent power producers that are in the best position to help bridge that shortfall. It also examines South Africa’s potential to produce green hydrogen, and the role that the automotive and mining sectors have to play in fulfilling the country's JET, as well as the capacity that the just transition has to create much-needed employment.

South African Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has proclaimed mining is still a sunrise industry on the African continent and has urged investors to come to Africa, because “That’s where the future is!” However, many investors are finding it difficult to heed the Minister’s call largely owing to the countless, sometimes insurmountable, barriers that prevent many of them from even getting past the initial stages of exploration. As a result, the extent of Africa’s purported mineral wealth remains unknown.