A roundtable on the margins of the upcoming annual Investing in the African Mining Indaba is set to boost South Africa’s investment potential.
The Departments of Trade and Industry, Mineral Resources and Brand South Africa will host an investment roundtable on the margins of the annual indaba as part of measures to provide potential investors with the opportunity to interact with the country’s political and business leadership.
The roundtable under the theme: ‘Invest in South African Mining’ will be held in Cape Town on Tuesday.
“The purpose of the roundtable is to provide potential investors from targeted countries with the opportunity to interact with the South African political and business leadership in order to obtain first-hand information on the issues relating to the South African mining environment.
“Invited to the roundtable are potential investors from various countries including Canada, United States of America, India, Japan, China, Australia, United Kingdom and Russia,” said the Department of Trade and Industry (dti).
The mining indaba, which takes place from 4-7 February 2019 under the theme, Championing Africa’s Sustainable Economic Development, is a global event that provides a global perspective on African mining.
It is a forum aimed at building and maintaining cross continental business relationships in the mining sector. The event is regarded as the world’s largest gathering of the most influential stakeholders in the African mining industry. These range from financiers, investors, and mining professionals to government officials.
More than 750 investors and dealmakers are expected to be amongst the approximately 7 000 delegates that are expected to descend on Cape Town from across the globe.
“The South African government has identified the Mining Indaba as a strategic forum to attract and promote foreign direct investments in different industries of our mining sector. The Indaba is billed as the largest mining investment event covering the entire value-chain,” said Minister Rob Davies.
He added that the dti’s Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) identifies mineral beneficiation as an area of work that presents an abundance of opportunities which investors can take advantage of in order to grow the mining sector.
“This provides the massive potential of contributing in growing the country’s economy, creating jobs, transformation and eradicating poverty,” he said ahead of the roundtable.
Davies said the indaba is the first to be held after the release of the Mining Charter last year and that the event will serve as a test of its acceptance by the international mining investors.
“The country’s minerals beneficiation strategy seeks to optimise synergies and linkages between mineral value-chains to promote economic diversification, focusing on industrial capacity development in energy commodities, as well as the iron, steel and titanium value-chains,” he said.
On the day of the roundtable, Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe is due to sign the Mining Leadership Compact with the leadership of organised business and organised labour in the mining industry.
The Mining Leadership Compact commits the leadership of the sector to a common vision for the sector and sets the tone for the development of a long-term strategy for mining.
