Details of the seminar are as below. Cost for the day is R1767 incl. VAT excluding any discounts.

A 10% discount is offered on groups of more than 3 delegates. Should you wish to register at the discounted rate please contact Marc Ashton on 082-561-1585 or e-mail marc@rival.co.za

WALKING THE LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE

Implementing Labour Law Productively

Workshop date/time: Friday 23 July 2010 Registration: 08H45 Close: 16h30 

VENUE:   SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 24 Sturdee Avenue,
                             Rosebank, Johannesburg.

SEMINAR PURPOSE AND CONTENT
In South Africa the biggest challenge for employers is the balancing act of achieving a productive workforce without infringing upon the countless powerful labour laws protecting employees.

Via a comprehensive case study laden with practical learning points workshop delegates have fun while gaining crucial insights from the wrongdoings of a fictitious company called Mile High Airlines. They receive detailed input on how to balance labour law compliance with the effective management of the following functions:

MANPOWER PLANNING RECRUITMENT, SCREENING AND SELECTION
JOB DESCRIPTIONS AND PERSON SPECIFICATIONS
JOB ADVERTISEMENTS
REFERENCE CHECKING
INTERVIEWING
PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTING
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION LEGISLATION
PROBATION AND INDUCTION
ACTING APPOINTMENTS AND LEGAL PITFALLS
RETENTION OF KEY STAFF
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
CAREER PATHING AND SUCESSION PLANNING
EFFECTIVE SUPERVISION
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, MOTIVATION AND TEAMWORK
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AND DISCRIMINATION
DISCIPLINE AND DISMISSAL
FAIRNESS AND THE CCMA

About the presenter:
Ivan Israelstam, CEO of Labour Law Management Consulting
Ivan Israelstam has 14 years experience as a litigator at CCMA and 4 years as a CCMA Commissioner. He writes numerous labour law columns in major publications and is the author of labour law books. Ivan chairs SACCI’s Labour Relations committee and gives conference, seminar, radio and TV talks.

The competition is organised by financial journalist and entrepreneur Marc Ashton and supported by highly respected marketer and author Scott Cundill from Majestic Interactive.

“Locally there has been a lot of focus on start-ups – particularly in the technology sector – but start-ups are initially low impact employing a handful of skilled people and run very high failure rates,” says Ashton.

“What about the businesses that have already done the legwork, made their mistakes and are now looking to scale up? That is where a competition like Punk Your SME comes in,” he adds.

Based on the “Pimp your ride” reality TV concept, the competition will every three months see the team giving away advertising, marketing material, technology to make small businesses run better as well as a round table mentoring and strategy session with top South African entrepreneurs to provide suggestions for scaling the business up.

The competition also provides an opportunity for the organisers to collect data toward their Entrepreneur Confidence Index which will provide relevant information on entrepreneurial activity in South Africa as well as try identify pains that the small business sector may be experiencing.

How to get involved:
Entrepreneurs looking to get involved with the competition can send an e-mail to marc@rival.co.za with the subject line: “I Want To Punky My SME”.

Alternatively entrepreneurs can join the “Punk Your SME” Facebook group to be kept up to date with industry happenings.

One of the key strategies for the organisers is to leverage the “social lending” spirit which is becoming increasingly prominent in South Africa. Those looking to contribute skills, services, mentoring, products or make cash donations which can be put toward each quarters’ prize can contact Marc Ashton on 082-561-1585 or e-mail to discuss further.

Risk Management is a technique that identifies, assesses, plans for and controls risks. However on mining and engineering projects the risk management framework needs to play a more prominent role earlier in the life cycle.

The following lifecycle represents how some companies in the mining and engineering industries are implanting their risk management strategy:
· Pre-Feasibility – Limited focus is spend on a risk management framework
· Feasibility – Inadequate focus spend on a risk management framework
· Pre- Detailed Design – Still inadequate focus spend on a risk management framework
· Detailed Design – Creation of risk management frameworks in silos
· Procurement – Creating an integration risk management framework using bottom-up approach
· Construction – Implementation risk management frameworks due to complexity on a tactical level
· Commissioning – Perform risk analysis, risk assessment and risk reporting with limited strategic value

“We understand risk management encompasses the identification and assessment of threats, definition of probabilities and impacts, and the preparation and implementation of risk avoidance and contingency plans,” says UMT Consulting CEO Pieter Meyer.

“Our unique methodology ensures we implement controls, responsibilities and monitoring mechanisms to ensure effectiveness. To realise the benefits of risk management earlier in the lifecycle, we suggest that risk management be implemented in a project management controls environment which would assist with project management control reporting and budget metrics.”

From pre-initiation to commissioning, UMT Consulting’s IRM will assist clients to minimise project risks by conducting:
· Risk assessments e.g. procurement: scheduling delays, logistics, foreign exchange rates for imported goods etc.
· Analyse the assessed risks in terms of the impact and likelihood on the project
· Establishing controls and treatment plans to manage the identified risk
· Monitor and reporting on the status of these risks

Misconceptions of risk management, especially in the mining and engineering industries, are that it polices and sometime hinders the fluid established processes. However, risk management’s pure function is to reduce the risk exposure of the projects within the organisation and as a consequence, improves the overall health of any project.

The deal is designed to offer a more complete solution to their respective clients’ needs in the OHADA region and further develop their regional law practices. 

OHADA – the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa – is an international organisation created in 1993 and currently comprising 16 member states.

Both firms have collaborated on projects and transactions in West Africa for a number of years.

Roddy McKean head of Webber Wentzel’s Africa Practice said that Webber Wentzel’s work in Africa now represents a significant and growing part of the firm’s practice. 

“Being able to draw on the recognised expertise and know-how of one of Africa’s leading law firms is a boon for us. Webber Wentzel gains access to Bile-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associés’ capability, knowledge and expertise under OHADA business law and its on-the-ground experience throughout West-Africa
 
“By combining our expertise with the insight of local partners, we provide our clients with a competitive advantage when operating in Africa. “

The firms will also share business and legal intelligence and set in place a secondment programme amongst other strategies to service clients.

Michel Brizoua-Bi, Head of the International Department at Bile-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associés commented: “Webber Wentzel has strong industry experience in key sectors in Africa.  The association of the two firms’ strengths and knowledge of African business environment reinforces our ability to provide legal advice of an international standard. 

“We have worked extensively with Webber Wentzel and have found that we share a similar vision about the need for more collaboration and integration between leading African firms”.

In a move to service better its clients in Francophone Africa, Webber Wentzel also recently appointed Steven De Backer as a director in the Africa Practice. Steven, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was previously with Freshfields in Brussels and Mkono & Co in Burundi and Dar-es-Salaam, has brought extensive on-the-ground experience of leading transactions in Francophone Africa. 

Steven is backed by a team of French speaking and civil law qualified lawyers who are able to assist clients in relation to their transactions and operations in Francophone Africa.

Webber Wentzel is currently acting for Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, in relation to its investment in Guinea and its implementation of the multi-billion dollar Zogota project. 

The firm is also currently advising clients on a variety of matters in Francophone countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi and Senegal.

A new BASF online tool, the so-called Ecovio® Eco-Efficiency Compass (E³C), will make this decision much
easier in the future. The software compiles all of the relevant data for the production and disposal of selected products – the findings of many exhaustive Eco-Efficiency Analyses – in a single user-friendly interface. Various parameters that are crucial for the ecological evaluation of a given product can be quickly checked, revealing their impact on the product’s eco-efficiency right away. The uncomplicated comparison of the ecological footprint of various approaches allows the user to quickly ascertain whether, in the final analysis, a biodegradable plastic is actually more environmentally friendly.

Biodegradable is not necessarily eco-efficient
It has been more than ten years since biodegradable plastics have entered the awareness of consumers and the industry, and they continue to enjoy a growing interest on the part of the market and the public at large. A number of BASF products have contributed to this development, too. Ecovio® F Film is commonly found in compostable shopping bags. At the end of 2009, BASF’s Ecovio product line was expanded by two new types, namely, Ecovio FS Paper, which is suitable for the production of coated paper cups and cardboard boxes, and Ecovio FS Shrink Film, which was developed explicitly with an eye towards the manufacture of shrink films.

Biodegradable plastics, however, do not automatically solve environmental problems simply because they can be composted. Their use only makes sense if they are more sustainable than nonbiodegradable materials at a performance level that is the same or even better. The biodegradability is supposed to create added value,
for instance, by allowing organic waste to be composted rather than incinerated. After all, organic waste consists primarily of water, which makes thermal utilization very inefficient. In contrast, if the film can be
composted along with its contents, this can have a positive effect on the environment.

Comprehensive life cycle assessments like the Eco-Efficiency Analysis developed by BASF have already been helping people for many years to make the right choice among different product and process alternatives. Towards this end, such analyses thoroughly and quantitatively investigate and evaluate the consumption of resources,
the environmental impact and the economic effects during the production, use and end-of-life phases of a material in a given application.

However, all of this makes these studies complex: a comprehensive Eco-Efficiency Analysis has to be performed by LCA experts and takes several months. Such individual studies do not lend themselves to being combined and specific scenarios must be prepared separately. This again affords the experts’ support. Thus it is not possible to make flexible and quick decisions from among several material alternatives.

User interface with clear layout
This is where the new Eco-Efficiency Compass springs into action. A web-based interface with an input mask is provided so that users can combine numerous parameters with each other that are of relevance for the ecological profile of their envisaged product such as, for instance, a shopping bag. These parameters include not only the selection of the packaging material – if necessary all the way down to the monomer level – but also the weight of the bag and the type of disposal technology.

Thus, the entire life cycle of the product is depicted, from the selection of the raw material all the way to disposal.
The software bases its calculations on several Eco-Efficiency Analyses and control parameters describing materials, applications and disposal scenarios. For the sake of clarity, however, they stay in the ackground. Moreover, some of the variables have been pre-set to ppropriate values.

Experience has shown, for example, that, when een over the entire life cycle of the product, the energy consumption
during the production of the film only has a relatively small impact on the eco-efficiency of a film bag.
Simple presentation of complex systems Users first receive the analysis results in the form of a radar and
portfolio diagram that clearly and logically shows the eco-efficiency of the approaches being compared. This already shows where a product variant has advantages or disadvantages, for example, in terms of its consumption of resources or its emissions.

If so desired, users can receive assistance from BASF experts who will provide them with individual diagrams showing valid and reproducible estimates of the energy and material streams involved in the production, transportation, use and final disposal. The environmentally relevant effects of the material selection and naturally also the costs of
the chosen approach are provided.

Example – shopping bag with double benefit
The calculational comparison between a shopping bag made of paper and one made of Ecovio, both of which offer double benefit since they can be used for shopping and for biowaste disposal, shows: under the boundaries chosen the Ecovio bag is more eco-efficient than the paper bag, because the latter has to be considerably thicker in order to
perform equally well. Generally speaking, this parameter plays a crucial role. Together with trained BASF employees, users can experiment with these parameters.

Expandable concept
At the present time, the new Ecovio Eco-Efficiency Compass is still tailor-made for estimating the eco-efficiency of shopping bags and foam trays of the type found everywhere in the retail sector. Other product groups, however, can be added. Major developments on the market can be promptly incorporated; an example of this is polyethylene made
of “bio-ethanol”.

At the moment, experts are implementing models for paper coatings as well as for shrink films. These will help BASF customers to ascertain the eco-efficiency of paper cups and beverage packaging – and also to ensure that, in these sectors, biodegradable plastics are only employed where they are indeed more sustainable while performing at least
equally well.

Dear Shareholder,

At the company’s Annual General Meeting held in Melbourne a few weeks ago, there was considerable discussion of the Government’s proposed Resource Super Profits Tax. Your board has serious concerns about the impact of this proposed new tax, not only for Rio Tinto and the mining industry, but indeed for the whole of Australia’s future economic prosperity. During the course of the meeting, it became apparent that your board’s concerns were widely shared by shareholders, as a result of which I have decided to write to you to express our misgivings in clear and simple terms.

When the Henry Tax Review was first announced by the Government two years ago, Rio Tinto indicated clearly that we wanted to be positively engaged in the process. We have been long time supporters of genuine tax reform that enhances the efficiency and competiveness of the Australian economy. The proposed super tax does not deliver either of these goals. In fact, the Government’s proposal will penalise efficiency, discourage competitiveness, curtail investment and limit jobs growth.

Rio Tinto, like the rest of the mining industry, has grave concerns about the fundamentals of the new tax. It has been developed in a vacuum and is divorced from the day-to-day realities of business. 

We are particularly concerned by the application of the tax to existing projects. The mining industry invests billions of dollars a year in new projects and most of these projects take years, even decades, to pay back that investment. Companies like Rio Tinto are naturally only prepared to make such major long term commitments in stable legal, tax and regulatory environments. The Government’s current proposals, arrived at without consultation, have now significantly destabilised that investment framework. As a result, there has been a considerable increase in the perceived risk of investing in Australia, threatening to make Australia a much less attractive place in which to invest.

The risk that unexpected and unforeseen government action will negatively impact on the value of investments is often referred to as “sovereign risk” and, with almost half our Group’s assets invested in Australia, I am sure you will understand why our Chief executive, Tom Albanese, recently referred to Australia as now being his number one sovereign risk concern.

Under the proposed super tax, the industry will be taxed at a rate approaching 57 per cent, which means that Australia will have the highest taxed mining industry in the world. With such a high tax rate, the attractiveness of investing in mining in Australia will be further reduced. Other countries will benefit as investment shifts from Australia to more attractive tax regimes.

We are currently reviewing all our projects in Australia under the worst-case tax scenario to assess the impact the proposed super tax will have on our future growth plans. However, what is abundantly clear to us, is that had this tax been in place ten years ago, we would not have invested as much as we have in the Pilbara, and Rio Tinto would have been a much smaller producer of iron ore today.

The mining industry has assumed a critical role in the ongoing economic success of Australia. We played a major part in ensuring that Australia did not suffer as harshly as the rest of the world from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. It is crucial that any tax reform does not undermine Australia’s strongest industry. 

We are particularly concerned that the Government announced the super tax proposals without any prior consultation with the industry. Since that announcement, we have continued to emphasise our desire to enter into constructive engagement with the Government, on the basis that genuine consultation would require that all aspects of the proposed tax are open for discussion. We are keen to work positively with the Government on tax reform that would not damage Australia’s competitiveness, its mining industry or the superannuation funds of millions of Australians.

Rio Tinto’s contribution to Australia
I have been deeply concerned about the misrepresentations that have been made about Rio Tinto during the course of this debate. In particular, there has been speculation around the actual amount of taxation that we have been paying in Australia. Rio Tinto has always paid its fair share of tax. We recently released data independently verified by our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which confirmed that we have paid tax at an effective rate of 35 per cent on our Australian profits over the past decade.  From 2000 to 2009 our corporate tax and royalties paid amounted to A$20 billion.

The ten-year analysis also underlined how Rio Tinto has reinvested its Australian profits back into Australia.  From 2000 to 2009 we generated net profit after tax of about A$37 billion in Australia and re-invested about A$38 billion back into Australia – A$26 billion in capital expenditure and A$12 billion in acquisitions.

We are also proud of the wider contribution we make directly to the Australian community. In 2009, we employed more than 19,000 people across 36 operating sites, and we continue to be the largest private sector employer of Indigenous Australians. We supported more than 1,000 socio-economic programmes in Australia across health, education, business development and environmental protection, at a cost of some A$35 million. We also contributed a similar amount in direct payments via trusts and impact benefit agreements with host communities, taking our total direct community contributions in 2009 to more than A$70 million. I believe this clearly reflects our commitment and desire to actively engage in helping to build a better Australia.

What are we doing?
Rio Tinto has sought a genuine consultation process with the Government on the proposed super tax and has assured it that we remain willing and able to engage in constructive discussions.

We continue to work with our industry colleagues and the Minerals Council of Australia to ensure that our position on the super tax proposals is effectively communicated, not only to the Government, but also to the Australian community.

What can you do about the new mining tax?
If you want more information about this important issue and to make your voice heard,     I would encourage you to visit the Keep Mining Strong website at keepminingstrong.com. At this website you will find regular updates and it will also provide guidance about how you can actively participate in this debate.  For further information regarding Rio Tinto’s contribution to the debate please visit www.riotinto.com.

Rio Tinto has been contributing to Australia’s development more than 100 years and Australia has always played an important role in Rio Tinto’s success.  We believe we are part of an industry that has contributed hugely to the wealth, success and development of Australia.  We do not want that to change.  

Yours sincerely

Jan du Plessis
Chairman

Leading international fund managers have confirmed their attendance at the event in Harare on June 7 and 8, says Sean Gammon, MD of Harare-based Imara Capital Zimbabwe.

Imara expects investment professionals from the USA, UK, Europe and South Africa. Last year the Pan-African financial services group created history by successfully staging Zimbabwe’s first in-country international investment conference since the formation of an inclusive government.

“The follow-up indaba has a ‘let’s get down to business’ feel about it,” says Gammon. “The accent this time around will be on assessing the reality of corporate Zimbabwe, rather than just the undoubted blue-sky potential.

“The major signal sent on the run-in to the conference is that solid support is forthcoming from fund managers, despite concerns about the final form that Zimbabwe’s indigenisation legislation may take.

“It is no longer a novelty for African ‘frontier markets’ to be represented in the portfolios of major fund managers. Investment risk is different in Africa, but we’ve seen that developed economies also carry risk. All in all, the risk-and-return proposition within African markets has growing appeal. A follow-up investment indaba here in Harare confirms it.”

The conference format is designed to facilitate serious investment. After macro scene-setting, senior executives from major listed Zimbabwean companies will make individual presentations to fund managers.

One-on-one sessions will give prospective investors an in-depth look at the performance of market leaders that have achieved sustained growth with little reliance on debt.

Says Gammon: “Dollarisation has helped to resuscitate Zimbabwe’s economy and enabled many companies to step up production. The timing of the conference is important as it gives fund managers a chance to assess corporate performance post-dollarisation.

“Some investors may have taken a position soon after dollarisation and will be checking corporate performance one year on. Those who took a wait-and-see approach will be just as keen to assess dollarisation’s impact.

“In either scenario, the Imara conference fulfils a vital role.”

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Highlights                                                                     
-    ConRoast development programme successfully concluded;                    
-    ConRoast established as the solution for platinum industry:  smelts 50 000 tons of PGM concentrates during its development programme;                 
-    ConRoast outperforms the traditional smelting process on treatment of – chrome rich PGM concentrates; and                                          
-    Jubilee now focussed on construction of new commercial-scale ConRoast facility.
                                                                  
Abiel Mgomuzulu (CEO of Mintek) said “The successful conclusion of the research and development phase for the ConRoast smelting solution, affirms Mintek`s   successful track record of forming partnerships with Industry for the development of technologies that provides solutions to the challenges faced by  the Mining and Minerals Industry. Mintek remains committed to this process and will continue with technical support to Jubilee as they commercialise the ConRoast process.”

Colin Bird (CEO of Jubilee) said “Jubilee is delighted that the research and development phase has been successfully concluded.  The ConRoast process has throughout its development phase demonstrated that it is an environmentally friendlier, safer and more efficient processing solution than the traditional matte-collection furnaces for the recovery of platinum group metals from chrome rich concentrates.  To date the demonstration facility at Mintek has achieved  
the necessary results confirming that the ConRoast smelting route is the industry solution for chrome rich concentrates.  We thank Mintek for the support as our technical partner and look forward to our ongoing relationship during and after the commercialisation phase.”

At the end of March, Mintek and Jubilee concluded that the technology development necessary for the first commercial ConRoast smelter has been completed. Consequently, treatment of material in the Mintek facility for      
demonstration purposes ceased at the end of March, so that Jubilee could focus on the commercialisation of ConRoast. Jubilee is well advanced in the establishment of a commercial ConRoast facility. Mintek continues to support the process, and looks forward to seeing the first commercial project being implemented soon.

As part of the conclusion of the research and development programme, Mintek and Jubilee have agreed that ownership of the Braemore-installed demonstration plant at Mintek will pass to Mintek.                                                 

The furnace has been in operation for the past six years, primarily acting as a large-scale demonstration unit for Mintek`s patented ConRoast process, to which Braemore Platinum (Pty) Ltd (“Braemore”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jubilee,  holds the exclusive worldwide rights. ConRoast is now widely recognised as an  environmentally friendly and safe way of smelting PGM concentrates, especially  for the troublesome high-chromium concentrates emanating from the UG2 Reef that have resulted in a number of furnace failures in the PGM industry over the past few years.

Since October 2007, the enlarged demonstration furnace at Mintek has been treating a wide range of PGM-bearing feed materials on behalf of Braemore. These final trials marked the conclusion of a very successful development period during which ConRoast established itself as the new, safe and environmentally  friendly smelting solution for PGM containing concentrates. Braemore has funded the further development of ConRoast through pilot plant testwork at Mintek and overseas as well as the expansion of the smelting facilities at Mintek. 

Consequently Braemore holds the exclusive rights to ConRoast for the roasting,  smelting and downstream refining of PGM-containing feed materials.Mintek will continue to investigate opportunities to use the facility for a    
combination of further development work, process demonstration, for revenue-generating and training purposes. 

This work will assist in establishing further opportunities for the use of DC-arc furnace technology, especially with regard to facilitating opportunities related to junior and black-economic-empowered entities.

Eskom Acting Chairman, Mpho Makwana, explains: “The agreement, effective 31 March 2010, removes the impact of embedded derivatives on Eskom’s balance sheet, as well as all onerous conditions.  This amended agreement is also an important step in ensuring that both Eskom and BHP Billiton continue advancing the growth and development of southern Africa. We commend BHP Billiton for this unprecedented step on signing the amended Mozal contract, which shows their commitment to South Africa and the SADC region.”

Whilst discussions relating to the South African smelters are continuing over the coming months, the BHP Billiton smelter contracts at Hillside and Bayside in Richards Bay will remain firm and binding. Eskom will maintain its interruptibility at the smelters in line with the provisions of the contract.

Xolani Mkhwanazi, BHP Billiton Chairman, said: “BHP Billiton remains acutely conscious of the electricity supply challenges facing South Africa and the region and has been exploring innovative and sustainable solutions to these challenges. With the announcement of the amended Mozal agreement, Eskom and BHP Billiton remain confident that, given the necessary time and commitment, innovative and mutually beneficial solutions will be found for the South African smelters. The smelters continue to make an important contribution to the South African economy and at present continue to fulfil a commitment to a 10% power reduction. Eskom’s success is our success and we will continue to work with Eskom to address issues of common concern.”

The new pricing agreement will be submitted to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa for approval.