Indaba’s ticket prices reduced by half as mines cut spending

EUROMONEY Institutional Investor cut ticket prices by as much as half for Africa’s biggest resource- industry conference as mining companies rein in spending.

Weaker commodity prices and squeezed earnings prompted some to skip the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town in recent years and meet investors in hotel rooms around the city, said Alex Grose, the managing director of the event. Euromoney decided to offer discounts to try to reverse the trend.

“Short term, it might hit our profits in one year, but I think it’s the right thing to do for the long-term health of the event,” Grose said on Monday. “Companies said to us: ‘We’re going through pain, we’re having to cut costs, we want to come to the indaba, but you’ve got to work with us’.”

About 6 000 mining executives, investors and government officials are expected to attend the conference on February 6 to 9, up about 2 percent from last year, when commodity returns touched their lowest in at least 20 years.

About 7 300 people went in 2014. Executives from companies including Anglo American, Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti and South32 will bespeaking at the event this year.

The cost for executives from junior mining companies booking six months ahead was £399 (R6 762) plus 14 percent VAT, half the price of a year earlier. Prices for executives from large-cap miners were £549 a ticket plus VAT.

“One of the criticisms we had last year was that there weren’t enough investment companies and mining companies,” Grose said. “When you’re running a conference about investment in mining, that’s quite crucial.” – Bloomberg For full coverage of the backchaining, read @busrep and pick up Business Report.