Engineering, procurement and con- struction management (EPCM) services provider Tenova Bateman Sub-Saharan Africa MD Tollie Nel says that even though gold prices have dropped, there is still more exploration activity in the gold sector in Africa than in other commodities.

“Recently, there has been a big focus on iron-ore, but it seems that gold is still pursued more actively, even though gold prices are currently low. Once gold prices start improving, there will be further develop- ments in the gold sector in Africa,” he says.

Nel notes that West Africa is a promising mining market focusing on gold, highlighting that a division of the company, Tenova Mining & Minerals, recently completed a feasibility study for a gold mine in Guinea.

“However, this is not to discount the continuing importance of iron-ore,” notes Nel, adding that Tenova Bateman Sub-Saharan Africa is comprehensively supporting Aim-listed London Mining’s iron-ore growth strategy in Sierra Leone, with involvement on its Marampa Phase 1 expansions, as well as feasibility studies on future Marampa 5 and Marampa 10 expansions.

He also predicts that there will be greater focus on uranium. “The market price is currently depressed, but once prices start improving and more nuclear power stations are commissioned, the demand for uranium will improve dramatically . . . resulting in increased uranium mining activity.”

Nel acknowledges that investors have been more apprehensive about being involved in nuclear power projects since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. However, he notes that the uranium market is expected to grow as interest in alternative sources of power generation increases.

Tenova Bateman Sub-Saharan Africa is currently part of a joint venture with engineering firm Amec, responsible for a reimbursable contract for the EPCM of a uranium metallurgical plant for uranium mining company Swakop Uranium’s Husab project, in Namibia.

Logistics challenges, owing to the lack of infrastructure in Africa, have affected the continent’s mining industry and Nel believes that the respective governments, and not private companies, as is customary, need to take greater responsibility for infrastructure development programmes.

“In Africa, many mining companies are developing their own infrastructure, but governments should take over these projects to enable these companies to focus on mining,” he says, adding that mining projects lose viability when forced to take on the responsibility of infrastructure development projects.

He refers to the Corridor Sands project, in the Gaza province of Mozambique. “That project never progressed beyond the feasibility studies that began 12 years ago, as the need for infrastructure development in the area and the subsequent costs involved outweighed the potential benefits.”

Nel notes that another challenge for the African mining industry is the lack of skilled and professional labour, which has made it increasingly difficult to build competent mining project teams. “This could result in mining companies entering into more joint ventures for large mining projects to share their human resources,” he says.

He adds that, to address this issue, governments need to be more aggressive in its skills development incentive programmes.

Nel is, however, optimistic about the outlook for the African mining industry, noting that the continent has the potential to offer significant returns on investment in the next 10 to 20 years.