Over the next few weeks, the industry that will have the full tilt of our focus will be mining and, as such, we will be bringing you interesting titbits about the industry.
Anyone with any kind of knowledge about South Africa’s history will know that mining played a significant role in building this country. Gold mining is synonymous with Johannesburg, and what would Kimberley be without its Big Hole?
But, what about the rest of Africa? Let’s look to the future for this one.
Thanks to emerging markets (such as Brazil and China) mining will continue to drive investment on the “Dark Continent”. That is, the demand for development in mining of bulk commodities (iron ore, coal, copper etc.) and metals will be great for Africa.
As a build-up to the Mining Indaba scheduled for March, Rajat Kohli, global head of mining and metals at Standard Bank, shared his thoughts with the media. Given his job title, it would be remiss to not pay attention to what the man has to say. And he says only good and exciting things; Sierra Leone’s new iron ore mining, investments in Mozambican coal (by Brazilian Vale), opportunities in Zimbabwe for platinum mining, and Burundi for nickel will drive investments and are expected to improve each country’s economy.
South Africa has not relegated to a thing of the past; precious metal reserves are still right up there and the Chinese Jinchuan Group has big plans to buy South African Metorex for R9.1 billion.
Things are looking up for the elephant-shaped continent. It’s about time the rest of the world recognised Africa’s value.
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