Browsing: coal

Hwange Colliery: The giant that could have powered Zimbabwe & Southern Africa

Business

The company, given the first resources boom and the second one currently being enjoyed, should be awash with cash. Instead, the company is heavily indebted to the tune of between US$70 million and US$160 million which it attempted to expunge unsuccessfully through a rights issue in 2015.

The company has been limping along financially for years. In 2019 it was reported that its liabilities exceeded assets by US$19 million. This development made it doubtful that the company could carry on as a going concern after having been placed under judicial management.

The recent interim financial results presented by the company offer some consolation to investors who have been suffering for long.

Coal is still king in Southern Africa

Business

In the US, cheap and accessible shale gas is rapidly displacing coal. And in China, concerns about poor air quality and related health issues have caused demand for coal to fall three years in a row, from 2014 to 2016. So is coal demand about to decline globally? Is coal headed for the ash heap of history? Such a development is unlikely.”

The relegation of coal to the dustbin of energy sources, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) does not believe is likely. They are not the only ones who hold this view.

McKinsey & Company, another highly regarded consulting company, does not believe coal will not have a role in the energy mix of the world going forward. They are not as blunt in expressing their views as their counterparts at the BCG however. McKinsey & Company featured an article on their website proclaiming that the adoption and development of renewable energy will be an evolution that is gradual as opposed to a sudden revolution.