Mining commerce is alive! This is part of what the annual Mining Indaba, currently going on at the illustrious Cape Town International Convention Center seeks out to achieve.
Now in its 26th year, this year’s event has found the South African economy at crossroads. The big talking point is energy for South Africa. They, like Zambia, are currently faced with energy poverty. Mining success is heavily dependent on consistent supply. This inevitability feeds into the growth trajectory. As of 2019, South Africa’s GDP stood at approximately US$ 70.613 billion, according to the World Bank, while Zambia’s came in at US$32 billion.
The event organizers have over the years strived to continuously improve return on investment and time for participants. That is why this year, they added a nice touch of launching a newly designed online matchmaking platform, to bring investors and industry closer together. Furthermore, this year, the legal fraternity now has what is known as a General Counsel Forum which they have done in conjunction with Africa Legal. Notably, Baker Mckenzie whose work in energy and mining has been phenomenal, is playing a large role as one of the sponsors of the event.
This year’s event also strives to bring topical issues such as the impact of Mining Investment on the Millenials. Sitting through this discussion, one of the key takeaways was that as opposed to informing this particular generation about the significance of mining, the extractive industry needs to listen to them and focus on some of the key concerns they have to issues such as sustainability of the sector and environmental impact.
During the morning event, President Félix Tshisekedi, was one of the main speakers on the opening day. He came with a message of Congo being open for mining. Speaking to some of the delegates from congo in the mining sector, one of their biggest concerns was energy. Recently, one of the two contractors engaged to build the long-awaited Inga Dam project pulled out following concerns over the feasibility study and pricing of the EPC contract, according to a high ranking source spoken to at the Mining Indaba who works for the Ministry of Mines in Congo, on 3rd February 2020.
On Tuesday, delegates will listen to Zambia’s Minister of Mines as he explains what Zambia’s strategic intent is going forward on Mining. This will be Zambia’s opportunity to sell the mining story in Zambia. ZCCM IH has recently made a number of announcements around its investment in the Gold mining sector. This is a key focus area that head of the ZCCM IH delegation, CFO Chilandu Sakala, will be speaking to prospective partners and investors. Her company is re-writing the narrative of how mining can be conducted in Zambia but building a complete local value chain that can be the difference for Zambian in years to come.
Source: Financial Insight Zambia