Investing in African Mining Indaba 2024 opened Monday 5 February in Cape Town with a record 11,000 registered delegates from 126 countries, and 8,000 delegates attending on the first day.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony with a clarion call for collaboration between the mining industry and government, highlighting the immense potential that Africa has in being central to the global clean energy transition. “Our Just Energy Transition Investment Plan outlines a pathway to create new industries and support more livelihoods in the green economy.” President Ramaphosa appealed for the Indaba to prioritise discussions on how to strengthen mining value chains and enhance beneficiation.
In his much-anticipated address, President Ramaphosa also touched on the South African government’s four priorities aimed at developing the mining sector. Top of the list is the government’s proposed solutions to solve South Africa’s crippling power challenges, where he mapped out critical measures taken through the Electricity Action Plan to improve the performance of the existing generation fleet and initiatives to add to the electricity grid. President Ramaphosa also spoke about measures to tackle illegal mining and the resultant damage to infrastructure, referring to the specialised police task force mandated to deal with criminal elements. President Ramaphosa expressed his commitment to resolving the backlog in prospecting and mining rights applications by improving the regulatory environment through the development of a new cadastral system.
Mining Indaba 2024’s opening ceremony also featured keynote addresses from Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema who reiterated his government’s commitment to making Zambia a reliable investment partner of choice on the African continent. Democratic Republic of Congo Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde highlighted investment opportunities in the DRC’s mining sector in his keynote address.
This year’s theme, “Embracing the power of positive disruption: A bold new future for African Mining,” promised to ignite meaningful dialogue in a way never done before and the first day of Mining Indaba did not disappoint. Kickstarting the Disruptive Discussions were the series of “Voices of Disruption” panels which saw insightful conversations from Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad, Rio Tinto Minerals CEO Sinead Kaufman, Newmont African Business Unit MD David Thornton and Barrick Gold Corporation CEO Mark Bristow. “In keeping with our 2024 theme, we want to ignite meaningful dialogues that extend beyond the event and radically transform the conversation on pressing issues”, says Frans Baleni, Executive Advisory Board Chairman of Mining Indaba
This year marks Mining Indaba’s 30th anniversary with over 320 exhibitors, 400 speakers, 1,000 Investors, 450 mining companies, proving it is the largest African mining investment event.
