Focus on mining as Ramaphosa’s investment conference wraps up

As the spotlight swings toward Wednesday’s plenary session of the South African Investment Conference (SAIC) at the Sandton Convention Centre, social partners prepare to discuss President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), with emphasis on specific economic recovery areas.

Naspers, Anglo-American, Procter & Gamble and Amazon Web Services are among the companies expected to speak to their investment commitments, and on how to adapt to current economic and Covid-19 challenges.

With the final day of the third annual SAIC – launched in 2018 by Ramaphosa to reach a R1.2 trillion target in fresh investments and commitments over a five-year period – regulatory and policy challenges in making South Africa business-friendly are expected to come up for discussion.

The annual high-profile conference, on Tuesday held virtually during focused breakaway sessions, is also expected to take stock of the R664 billion pledged by investors in the two previous gatherings.

According to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, SAIC was this year held under difficult conditions, “due to the pandemic, which has hit economies of the world to extents never seen before”.

“The impact on South Africa’s economy is compounded by the fact that the virus found us already in a technical recession, due to an economic decline in two consecutive quarters. This was followed by a double downgrade by two rating agencies in March and April this year,” Mantashe told delegates.

He added: “Mining, like all other economic sectors, has not been spared. In response to this challenge, in the economic recovery and reconstruction plan, we have identified a number of interventions that will place the minerals and energy sectors on a recovery and growth path.

“One of the interventions is the recognition that exploration is the lifeblood of mining. We must prospect, explore and exploit the world-class mineral deposits we have.

“We will resuscitate the green field exploration with the aim of capturing a minimum of 5% of the global exploration share, which averages US$10 Billion per annum.”

South Africa, he said, “has deliberately decided to invest in the geoscience mapping programme, through the Council for Geoscience (CGS)”.

Mantashe said: “We believe this will boost investor confidence due to availability of more reliable geoscience data. We have already started actioning the interventions in the recovery plan.

“For exploration, the department, CGS and industry captains, are hard at work drafting the country’s exploration strategy, which will be the roadmap for the country’s exploration programme. We acknowledge the role of artisanal mining in the bigger economy.

“The policy team in the department is in the process of drafting the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) policy.”

Mantashe said small-scale miners were “virtually treated the same as large-scale miners in terms of environmental, water use, health and safety and financial provisioning requirements”.

“This policy will recognise and redefine the role and contribution of the small-scale mining sector to the economy, while making provision for its licensing parameters.

“We see this as an important driver to more investments into smaller high economic impact mining projects,” said Mantashe.

He said energy was “the epicentre of economic growth”.

“Recognition of this fact is very much evident in the interventions we have placed in the economic recovery and reconstruction plan.

“We have committed and started implementing several interventions to ensure security of energy supply which will in turn drive economic recovery and growth.

“This includes fast tracking the registration and licensing of generation projects for own use.

“Energy security and availability factor are at the top of our agenda,” he said, imploring investors “to come forward and partner with us as we rebuild and grow the minerals energy complex”.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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