2020-04-01 Forbes Africa

BREAKING NEW GROUND

ADVERTORIALBY BRAND SA

T

heminingindustryofSouth

Africahasbeenthroughdiffi-

culttimesoverthelastdecade

andneededsupportatthis

year’sMiningIndabamorethanever.

Miningiscertainlya mainstayofthe

SouthAfricaneconomy.Theindustry

employs454,861peopleandin 2019 ex-

portedR348.2billion,accordingtofigures

releasedbytheMineralsCouncilSouth

Africa.ItpaidR24.3billionincompany

taxesandR8.6billioninroyaltiesforthe

mineralsextracted.

The Mining Indaba in Cape Town is

thebiggestmininggatheringintheworld.

Thisyear,it broughttogethernearly

7,000delegates,includingmorethan

900 miningcompanyexecutivesand 600

investors.TheideawastosupportSouth

AfricanminingandBrandSouthAfrica–

setupin 2002 topromoteSouthAfrica’s

imagearoundtheworld- lentitsweight

totheefforttowinoverglobalinvestors

bypresenting a positiveimageofthe

industry.Thereisa lotatstake.

“WhatI thinkweneedtobearinmind

isthatSouthAfrica’sbaseofminerals,

when you look at the 4th industrial

revolution...if youlookatthevalueand

quantitywhenyoulookattheglobalre-

servesthatweholdofparticularminerals

forfourthindustrialrelatedtechnological

development...I thinktherearesome

tremendousopportunities,”saysPetrus

deKock,BrandSouthAfricasgeneral

managerofresearch.

Power,orthelackofit,isoneofthe

problemsthattheSouthAfricanmining

industryhastoovercome.In2019,power

cutscosttheminesproductionandinves-

torinterest.

One of the positive moves that came

TheMiningIndabainCapeTowncalledfor

deeperandsignificantpartnershipsbetween

government and the private sector.