https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Junior miners perceive Botswana as best investment destination

Bernard Swanepoel

Photo by Duane Daws

Chamber of Mines of South Africa president Mike Teke

Photo by Duane Daws

Chief Inspector of Mines David Msiza and South African mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel

Photo by Duane Daws

3rd June 2015

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Botswana is the easiest country in which to carry out junior mining activities, a digital vote declared on the first day of the Junior Indaba here on Wednesday.

Botswana received the highest vote from the 160 people attending the conference.

Botswana at 42% of the digital vote had double South Africa’s 21%, with Namibia coming in at 16%.

During digital voting at the conference chaired by South African mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel, 49% also perceived that South Africa’s legal environment had worsened.

More than two-thirds regard the junior mining sector as being overregulated and a third claimed that it was impossible to do “honest” junior mining business in South Africa.

Chief Inspector of Mines David Msiza, attending the conference on behalf of Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi, expressed regret at the perceptions, which he believed could be dispelled through better communication.

Chamber of Mines of South Africa president Mike Teke emphasised the strategic importance of juniors and Msiza spoke of the need to go back to basics in exploration in South Africa.

Anglo American partnership funds investment manager Alugumi Dzebu said that the company’s Zimele programme and the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund were able to assist emerging junior mining companies with early stage exploration funding, normally spurned by financial institutions.

“We can fund up to R30-million per project with a combination of different instruments,” Dzebu added.

Teke reiterated that the South African mining industry was by far the biggest contributor to South Africa’s economy and the reality of mining being cyclical had to be accepted, which meant that the country should be preparing for the upturn.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Rentech
Rentech

Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Rio-Carb
Rio-Carb

Our Easy Access Chute concept was developed to reduce the risks related to liner maintenance. Currently, replacing wear liners require that...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.1 0.159s - 160pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now