After the Bell: Africa is eating SA mining’s lunch

The big takeaway from the African Mining Indaba is incredibly obvious and simple: Africa is increasingly eating SA’s lunch. Except, of course, it’s not our lunch and never really has been. 

But the statement is generally true in the sense that mining companies have for decades preferred to mine here and possibly in Botswana rather than other countries in Africa, and that the pendulum may be swinging.

To me, the Cape Town mining conference has always been something of an irony. The main irony is, of course, that it’s located in Cape Town, one of the few places in SA where there is very little mining as opposed to, say, Johannesburg, which was actually built on a gold reef. But, in fact, I think the decision to locate the conference in Cape Town was genius. 

Cape Town in February is one of the most fabulous places on earth; the wind drops, the sun shines, the wine is cheap and the hotels empty out somewhat after the holidays.

Any London-based lawyer with even the vaguest interest in mining would do anything to escape the horrors of the cold and wet and the six-hour days of the northern European February for a blast of that particular medicine. Would the same apply if the destination was Joburg? Not so much. 

There is a subsidiary irony, and that is how few actual miners attend the conference.

Of course, the senior execs from all the big mining companies are here. But it is something of a testament to the growing sophistication of the mining industry that it is surrounded now by suppliers, consultants, advisers and investors in extremely large numbers. It has always been so, of course, but the sheer size of the conference suggests activity remains intense.  

This is the 30th Cape Town Mining Indaba and the largest yet, with 11,000 delegates from 126 countries registered. Just getting into the conference centre in the morning involves a 30-minute wait to process and put the attendees through a security check.

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