The 2013 Investing in African Mining Indaba, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 4 to 7, presented a mature attitude towards the management of the mining sector, says Pan-African advisory firm africapractice analyst Kathryn Brooks.

“While this year’s event was as buzzing and positive as ever, one could see the industry’s recognition of the many challenges currently facing the sector, especially during talks about sustainability,” says Brooks.

She believes this year’s mature, yet positive, outlook demonstrated a nuanced understanding of opportunities for growth in Africa, in the context of several challenges facing mining in Africa.

“Industry stakeholders at the Indaba recognised that, if these challenges are not faced head-on and in partnership with society, the industry will not succeed in the long run. “They seemed to acknowledge that, currently, there’s quite a complex landscape to navigate,” she adds.

This year marked africaprac- tice’s first appearance as an exhibitor at the Indaba, where the company showcased its range of services to companies operating in Africa and hosted a side event on harnessing mineral wealth to drive national development in Africa.

While africapractice normally prepares its clients for the Mining Indaba, helping them strategise their Indaba presence, the firm decided to do the same to raise its profile in the industry.

“It turned out to be a great success and we’re glad we participated. “The sheer number of people we managed to get to our event and to visit our side event made it worth it,” says Brooks.

Harnessing Mineral Wealth, Driving National Development

africapractice’s side event, hosted with the African Centre for Economic Transformation (Acet), brought together some of the biggest industry players on the continent to discuss how mineral resources can be leveraged to drive national development across the African continent and how the public and private sector can most effectively work together to achieve this goal.

Acet director Sheila Khama moderated the panel discussion, with opening and closing remarks from africapractice CEO Marcus Courage, while government Ministers from Liberia and Guinea underlined the importance of providing an enabling environment for reliable and professional companies to operate in their countries.

“Government and industry have to sit down at the same table and discuss these issues openly and collaboratively,” said Guinea Minister of Mines and Geology Mohamed Lamine Fofana.

Other speakers at the event included Liberia Deputy Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy Samuel Russ, Rio Tinto Guinea MD Ismael Diakité and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa director Antonio Pedro.

Pedro outlined the central tenets of the African Mining Vision – a blueprint for mineral resources development authored by the African Union and the United Nations, ratified by African heads of State in 2009.

Diakité provided an overview of the Simandou project, which, when completed, will be the largest integrated mine and infrastructure project in Africa. The first ore shipment is expected by mid-2015.

The project is being codeveloped by the Guinean government, the Aluminium Cor- poration of China, also known as Chalco, and the International Finance Corporation.

Panellists discussed the need for strategic partnerships and shared responsibilities between industry and government, as well as the need for governments to have the political courage to pursue regional infrastructure solutions.

In his closing remarks, Courage said that old-world formulas, characterised by tension and conflict between the private and public sector, must end.

“National development requires the active participation of State, industry and civil society. “More importantly, it requires trust and open discourse between State and industry,” he said, adding that investment frameworks must also be stable and dynamic to tackle these needs and changing circumstances.

Delegates attending the event also discussed the State’s participation as a shareholder in projects.

“Both the State and mining companies have a strong vested interest in these projects, though the types of interests do conflict at times,” concedes Brooks.

“This is why the bottom line of this discussion outlined the importance of aligning interests and understanding one another, which allows for moving forward together.”

Brooks believes State participation, as a shareholder in projects, should help to align government and private sector interests but that current models for state participation require further work.

She adds that there was a lot of discussion at the event about shared responsibility and partnership, with an emphasis on open discourse, but there is not a clear model for best practice yet that countries can follow.

“Although there is a lot of talk about responsibility, partnership and open discourse, we don’t actually know how to make that happen yet.”

Brooks believes, however, that bringing the key industry stakeholders into one room was the first step in the process and says that, across the continent, governments are considering various models demonstrating best practice in harnessing wealth for national development, including increased royalty rates, local content or State participation.

The panellists discussed some of those areas to consider how they might work and their limitations.

Future Plans for africapractice

Brooks tells Mining Weekly that, with the Indaba not taking place for another year, africapractice has started thinking about forums in which the discussions can continue.

“Getting those key industry stakeholders together and realising what a fruitful discussion it was inspired us to do more. Ultimately, people arrive at the best way forward through an open dialogue,” she says.

Brooks says the Mining Indaba will remain a highlight on the company’s calendar and that africapractice will continue to host similar events.

“It’s an incredibly exciting event to be at and quite an interesting time to think about how the industry has grown from year to year,” she notes.