MINING S PLANS TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT AND PLUG THE POWER GAP
LIKE A DUMP TRUCK on a mine, the four-day Mining Indaba in February in South Africa spilled forth a torrent of topics that kept nearly 7,000 delegates talking for four days: gold; power; precious metals; Ebola; risk; an investment battle in a boxing ring; battery metals and a bishop from Birmingham looking for a bounty. Pardon my alliteration, but it was a remarkable week if you looked behind the scenes.
Deals emerging, within weeks from the Mining Indaba may be few and far between, but in the next few months there is likely to be action. Mining Indaba old hands describe the networking gathering as a catalyst that ushers in deals, albeit in the long term.
In recent years, many thought the Mining Indaba was mirroring the cloud over South Africa’s once vibrant mining industry. The industry contends with regulatory uncertainties, rising costs and falling productivity.
Rising commodity prices have lifted the gloom, slightly, this year.
Palladium prices – a platinum group metal – have rocketed in the last year as demand has grown for car catalytic convertors. Andrew van Zyl, a mining analyst with SRK Consulting, said Anglo Platinum had doubled its share price in that time on the back of the palladium boom. Gold and so-called battery metals have also picked up in price since the last Mining Indaba, but more of that later.
The organizers
