Junior Mining Council

Fred Arendse, President of the Junior Mining Council, told the 2026 Junior Indaba in Johannesburg on June 11 that South Africa must stop treating junior miners as scaled-down versions of major mining companies and recognise them as explorers and risk-takers responsible for discovering tomorrow's mines. He outlined five reform pillars: a fully functional digital cadastral system, exploration funding mechanisms such as flow-through share schemes, dramatically improved permitting timelines, differentiated empowerment requirements for exploration versus production, and formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining.

The Junior Mining Council welcomed the arrest of 14 alleged illegal miners in Brits, North West, in May and acknowledged successes of Operation Prosper, the coordinated security cluster intervention aimed at eradicating illegal mining across South Africa. The council says illegal mining is estimated to cost over R70-billion annually in gold alone and that no single stakeholder can eliminate the challenge alone, requiring meaningful collaboration between government, law enforcement, mining companies and local communities.

The Junior Mining Council is calling for increased investment into South Africa's emerging mining sector, highlighting the Industrial Development Corporation's establishment of the Junior Mining Exploration Fund, which provides grant funding for prospecting and early-stage exploration. The council encourages exploration and development projects focusing on critical minerals including copper, lithium, manganese and platinum-group metals, which are essential for electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and renewable energy systems.