COMPANY COMMENT
Political ideology shift could lift mining sector
The government could take a look at what its African peers, particularly Ghana, are doing to keep mines open
News out of the South African mining sector has been making for depressing reading: the gold industry is on a downward trajectory, the platinum sector is in all kinds of trouble and the regulatory environment is still a mess. So what are the counterpoints to this stream of unremittingly bad points? There must be some, surely. Looking at the regulatory environment first, there is a new mines minister, Gwede Mantashe, who has spent decades in the mining industry and has the political clout to deliver. He comes to the job with a reputation from his days as the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers as tough but able to compromise. Mantashe is driving the formulation of a third Mining Charter hard and wants amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act to be finalised within months. These amendments have been in the works since 2012. And it’s not all gloomy across SA’s mining industry. According to Stats SA, the manganese and diamond sectors had a won...
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