The National Foundry Technology Network (NFTN) recently completed a survey of all South African foundries to evaluate the industry status quo and level of environmental compliance in the sub sector.

Although the COVID-19 lockdown delayed the presentation of the results of phase one report and the planned feedback to the sector, the NFTN, in conjunction with the CSIR, hosted a webinar on the 3rd November 2020 to present the outcomes of the industry survey. 60 participants registered to attend the seminar and eventually 45 attended.

The presentation on the overview of the foundry industry in South Africa did not paint a pretty picture. However, it must be pointed out that only 42.5% of the number of foundries in South Africa according to the NFTN’s survey, completed a questionnaire. As usual you can deduct your own outcomes from these figures.

A team from the CSIR’s Environmental Management Services department also completed a survey on the Environmental Compliance and Performance of South African foundries with a particular emphasis to find out how many have atmospheric emissions licences (AEL).

The survey revealed that of the 57 foundries that completed the survey only two-thirds of them are AEL compliant but only 22 could produce copies of their AEL. There is plenty of work also to be done in this area.

The presentations given at the webinar can be found at https://www.nftn.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Presentation-NFTN-Workshop-3-Nov-2020.pdf