Mining Indaba | In a vital address at the 2024 Investing in African Mining Indaba held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the plan for the future of the mining industry in South Africa.

Here are the key highlights from his Mining Indaba speech:

Celebrating 30 years of democracy

To celebrate 30 years of democracy, the president acknowledged the historical challenges of labour exploitation and human rights violations during apartheid.

“Over the last three decades, South Africa’s mining industry has undergone significant transformation. For nearly 150 years, mining has been a pillar of the South African economy. It currently contributes roughly 7.5 percent to GDP and accounts for some 60 percent of South African exports by value.

“Working with industry and labour, the democratic government has been able to effect a wide-ranging and sustainable transformation of the sector over the past three decades,” he said.

“In 2004, the year the Mining Charter was first introduced, black ownership in the industry stood at some 2 percent. Today, this stands at approximately 39 percent.

“During apartheid, the mining sector was notorious for labour exploitation, human rights violations, and poor health and safety standards. Today, miners employ approximately 476 000 people. Mineworkers can organise and rights are protected,” said Ramaphosa.

He added that a legal regime confers responsibility on mining companies to provide quality services and promote development in the communities where they operate.

“There are also a number of employee share ownership schemes through which mineworker participation in mining companies is being promoted.”

Addressing global and domestic challenges

The president outlined the headwinds in the mining sector, both globally and locally.

“We are all acutely aware that we face strong headwinds, and several persistent challenges are impeding mining performance. Globally, commodity price volatility, high energy prices, geopolitical tensions, and a global cost of living crisis are playing a significant role in dampening the business operating environment.

“Domestically, the energy crisis and port and rail bottlenecks are putting serious pressure on miners’ operational costs. Illicit mining, cable theft, and infrastructure vandalism place further strain on mining output and returns.

“We are committed to working hard and working together to overcome these serious challenges. Last year, we outlined four objectives to develop the sector, improve its global competitiveness, and harness the global drive towards sustainable development.

Objectives for development

In the outline of the government objectives, the president highlighted the safe provision of power, the economic reforms to provide a congenial business environment, the fight against illegal mining, and infrastructure development.

“The first objective is to ensure a reliable source of power. Several key steps have been taken in the Electricity Action Plan to improve the operation of our current generation fleet and increase new power generation capacity.

“The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has secured 1 384 MW of new generation capacity that is currently under construction or already in operation. The department has released requests for proposals for the procurement of 5 000 MW of renewable energy under Bid Window 7, 2 000 MW of gas-to-power, and 615 MW of battery storage. Transmission capacity remains a challenge, especially in the Cape Provinces,” noted Ramaphosa.

“Eskom has therefore recently published a curtailment regime that unlocks 3 470 MW of additional capacity in these provinces and will be essential to the success of Bid Window 7.

The second objective we identified was to accelerate economic reforms to improve the operating environment. We have instituted a few reforms to enable businesses to operate optimally.”

He added that since the removal of the licensing threshold for embedded generation, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa has registered no less than 1 312 generation facilities with a combined capacity of over 6 300 MW. Around a third of this capacity supplies the mining load.

“It is encouraging that more and more mining companies, including Gold Fields, Anglo American, Seriti, and Exxaro, are beginning to take advantage of these reforms to power their mining operations and curtail their operational costs.

“The third objective we identified was to tackle illegal mining and damage to infrastructure. Since the establishment of a specialised police unit working with the defence force, we have seen several arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of the perpetrators of this crime. The DRME, through Mintek, continues to seal ownerless and derelict mines.

“Since 2019, the department has closed and sealed 251 derelict holes and shafts. Over the next 3 years, the department intends to close another 352 shafts.

“Criminal activity and copper cable theft have had a serious impact on key rail freight corridors, including the supply of coal for export through Richard’s Bay.

“Cooperation between the private sector, Transnet, and the security services has resulted in an improvement in the security situation over recent months.

“South Africa’s freight logistics system itself is undergoing a process of rapid and fundamental change to improve its efficiency and position it for the future. Working with the private sector under the auspices of the National Logistics Crisis Committee, we are working to overcome the challenges with ports and rail. The Freight Logistics Roadmap, which has recently been approved, sets out a clear plan to guide this process, “he said.

Ramaphosa added that by introducing competition in freight rail operations while maintaining state ownership of the routes, we will unlock massive new investment in South Africa’s rail system. This will support jobs in every sector of the economy, from mining to manufacturing to agriculture. Similarly, by upgrading and expanding our port terminals through innovative public-private partnerships, we aim to position South Africa as a leading player in global markets.

“As governments, we are aware of the reality that without bold, transformative reforms to the logistics sector, mining cannot flourish. We are working hard, in partnership with industry, to ensure this roadmap is implemented without delay.

“Finally, we committed in 2023 to improving the regulatory environment by developing and putting in place a new cadastral system to assist in the operation of a modern mining rights administration system. Now that we have a preferred bidder in place, we are confident that the speedy implementation of a modern, world-class solution will clear the backlogs in prospecting and mining applications and pave the way for the development of new mines,” highlighted the president.

Positive Disruption: Embracing Change

The theme for the 2024 Mining Indaba, ‘’Embracing the Power of Positive Disruption”, aligned with Ramaphosa’s vision of change. He spoke of, at the international level, the global shift to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies and showed Africa, blessed with mineral resources, as the pivot of the global energy transition.

Just Energy Transition

Ramaphosa shed light on South Africa’s approach to a just energy transition—a vision of balance between pace and extent and cost and energy access. The plan was in place to transition to a green economy by means of developing new industries and assuring livelihoods.

Collaborative Future

However, the president emphasized the cooperative nature needed to be administered by all the actors, incorporating industry, the administration, and social partners for the accomplishment of these unafraid goals. He said everybody in the mining sector should actively engage in embedding just transition principles as well as driving green technological advancement.

Rise of a new era of SA’s mining

As Ramaphosa closed his Mining Indaba speech, he was positive regarding collaborating deeper with the industry. He saw a different future for South African mining—an epic of inclusion, growth, transformation, and innovation that no one is left behind.