Mining Indaba kicks off in the city
Ramaphosa’s election ‘will be positive’
CHANGES to the ruling party’s leadership were expected to have a positive impact on South Africa’s ailing mining sector, mining executives said. Investors in the mining industry were beginning to see visible changes since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of the ANC in December, Neal Froneman, the chief executive of Sibanye-Stillwater, said on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town yesterday, which has attracted thousands of delegates from around the world.
“We are starting to sense that a better environment has developed. There is something informally that is taking place between well-positioned individuals who are asking what are the challenges of the mining industry. In the past two years, we have not had that. We are now seeing green shoots developing. We need to ensure that they don’t get frostbite,” Froneman said.
He echoed comments by Roger Baxter, the president of the Chamber of Mines, who earlier told journalists that there were green shoots that needed to be nurtured.
Baxter said he expected positive developments this year following Ramaphosa’s election.
“The ruling party’s leadership changes have to be followed by real implementation. We have complex political dynamics at play. Green shoots are there. We are keen to work with the government to focus on issues that are holding us back,” said Baxter.
The election of Ramaphosa in December saw the rand strengthen to R12.24 to the US dollar, from R13.53.
The strong rand was an indication that the markets welcomed Ramaphosa as president of both the ANC and South Africa.
There have also been growing expectations that, if President Jacob Zuma steps down amid pressure from the ruling party’s national executive committee, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane could be on his way out.
The mining industry, which accounts for 2.6% of South Africa’s gross domestic product, has shed 70 000 jobs over the past five years as it battled low investment, an uncertain regulatory environment and depressed commodity prices.
The Chamber of Mines released a report last year which found that capital expenditure in the country’s mining industry could increase to R122 billion, or 84%, if a conducive investment environment were created.
Meanwhile, Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix Mine in the Free State was the scene of a dramatic rescue of 955 mineworkers on Friday.
Froneman said the mineworkers had not, in fact, been trapped.
He said a tornado had taken out two independent sources that supply power to the mine. The winder control system of the Beatrix 3 was corrupted following the power failure.
“We could not work the winder. By law, you have to have a generator. We brought a generator from Harmony Gold and two generators from our Kloof mine. We had a choice to keep employees in a station, where they were safe, or walk three hours to the next shaft.
“We kept them in the safe station and provided water, as well as 1.2 tons of food. At no point was there a threat to their lives. They could have walked. It was less risky to wait for Eskom to reinstate the power,” said Froneman.