The private sector must participate and work with the government to find a solution
Collaboration is key to the success of the mining industry in South Africa, now and in the future. This was a common sentiment echoed in the many keynote speeches, media briefings and panel discussions held during the four-day Investing in African Mining Indaba held in Cape Town last week.
“Despite being blessed with an enormous mineral endowment, many countries across Africa are sadly unable to live up to their potential. Dispelling this long-held truism is more important than ever,” said Duncan Wanblad, Group Chief Executive at Anglo American. “The need to overcome these challenges and opportunities has been shown, many times, to rely on partnerships.” Speaking on the first morning of the event, he emphasized that the pandemic has broken many barriers to collaboration and strengthened cooperation, as the industry came together to find solutions to the problems presented by the common threat. “But why do we have to go through a crisis before we are willing to take the decisions and create the necessary partnerships to act?” he asked.
While these are exciting times in the industry, unfortunately, the industry is facing some untenable realities, said James Smith, CEO at DRA Global, a global engineering, project delivery and operations management group. “Technology is said to be the answer to all these problems, but this puts a huge burden on technology, especially when technology is the only one. If you don’t make people apply it practically, in the field, the efforts of digital transformation and innovation will fail.
It is encouraging to see different organizations across the industry – and outside the industry – coming together to innovate and share ideas, said Ian Sanders, Global Mining and Metals sector leader at Deloitte. We are even seeing some mining companies create venture funds and invest in technology accelerators to create the investment vehicles they need to continue to innovate in their own industry and in other sectors. This more open source approach helps the industry find creative and unique solutions to the problems it faces.
But innovation cannot happen without people. As Boubacar Bocoum, Lead Mining Specialist at the World Bank highlighted, we must not forget how the development of the industry will affect people in the field. “At the end of the day, we must not forget the fact that mining and metals are the only vehicles used to improve human development,” he said. So, while there is a real need for industry players to hurry up in order not to miss opportunities, it is important that this acceleration does not leave people behind.
Speaking on the second morning of the Investment in African Mining Indaba, President Cyril Ramaphosa also highlighted the importance of collaboration. “I am pleased to hear that the industry is collaborating with academics, researchers and parties from other industries to identify various areas of improvement, and [they are] share their wisdom and ideas on how this industry can continue to contribute to the development of our economy.
Acknowledging the many obstacles facing the industry, he called on the private sector to get involved and work with government to find solutions for the common good of our country. “Stop moaning,” he said. “We are not saying that you are not critical. But we are saying stop moaning. We want the private sector not to feel ashamed, not to retreat and, more importantly, not to stand on the roof and only criticize. We want them to join the ring so that we can solve it our problem together.
– Joanne Carew