Mining Indaba opens to South Africa telling a much better safety story

South Africa’s mining sector faces many headwinds and it is becoming an increasingly hard sell to the investors who are in Cape Town for the Investing in African Mining Indaba from 6 to 9 February.

As the name suggests, the focus of the conference is on the entire African continent, which remains the world’s poorest despite — some might say because of — its fabulous mineral wealth.

But South Africa is the host of this annual shindig and the draw of Cape Town in February for investors, bankers, analysts and executives from places such as Vancouver and London is obvious.

It’s a premier chance to promote South Africa as a destination for mining investment, which the government has often squandered even as attendees have enjoyed a dop under a blazing Cape Town sun.

One emerging ray of light is the improving performance of South Africa’s mining industry on the health and safety front. Since we are talking about human lives, the importance of this issue cannot be overstated.

Reducing the toll

Matters of health and safety are high on the investor radar screen these days. And South Africa’s mining industry — which has accounted for more than 80,000 accidental deaths since the late 19th century — has been making huge strides to reduce the toll.

Data released on 31 January by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe show that 2022 was a record safety year for South African mining, with 49 miners killed at work, a 34% fall from the 74 deaths recorded in 2021.

That’s still a terrible number: 49 families lost loved ones and breadwinners. Mining accidents are brutal. But progress is undeniably being made, even if the noble goal of “zero harm” remains elusive.

In January 2023, not a single miner in South Africa was killed at work, the first time this has happened in a calendar month. The fact that it is a milestone underscores the sheer scale of the carnage.

Hazardous setting

Among many initiatives, a concerted effort to address fall-of-ground incidents is bearing fruit. There were six fall-of-ground fatalities last year — six too many but a remarkable achievement in the hazardous setting of South Africa’s platinum and gold mines, which are the world’s deepest.

“The number of [fall-of-ground] fatalities had fallen to an average of 24 a year in the 2016-2020 five-year period from an average of 111 a year in 2001-2005, a 78% improvement,” the Minerals Council SA said.



“The key interventions were the implementation of entry examinations and actively making working areas safe daily from 2009. In 2012, netting and bolting of tunnel roofs and walls were introduced and the use of steel nets has become a common feature in South Africa’s deep-level mines.”

Safety action plan

ESG backlash