New Minerals Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi used the eightieth anniversary celebration of Mintek to reaffirm mining’s centrality as a driver of crucial economic growth and to emphasise that it is a requirement of the National Development Plan (NDP) to accelerate efforts to ensure that mining can continue to contribute to economic growth.

The State-owned council for mineral technology, established 80 years ago to ensure that the country gained as much from its minerals endowment as possible, was also a fitting place to emphasise that it was incumbent on the organisation to lead the way in mineral and metallurgical research and development (R&D) – and to do so with gusto.

“We live in a fast-changing world, which means that we must either aim to be the very best as far as R&D in the mining and metallurgical sectors is concerned, or risk becoming irrelevant,” Ramatlhodi said, adding that South Africa needed to ensure that it had an adequate pool of critical skills.

He expressed pleasure that the minerals body intended to nurture young talent through its expanded learnership programmes that would enrich graduate development interventions and intensify artisan training.

“Continued investment in this area cannot be overemphasised,” Ramatlhodi said, recalling that Mintek had grown from humble beginnings as a small minerals research laboratory at the University of the Witwatersrand into an organisation with strong public–private partnerships.

A walk through Mintek’s workshops shows the organisation has valuable metallurgical infrastructure to ensure that South Africa and Africa maximises its mineral endowment.

Several African mining authorities have shown interest in partnering with Mintek, whose products and services were used in countries such as Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

In the last decade, Mintek has installed online cyanide-measurement systems at gold mines in Peru, Mexico and Tasmania; opened a nanotechnology centre for the production of platinum catalysts for fuel cells; and introduced technology for the recovery of industrial water from acid mine drainage.

The next 80 years need to be far more intensive for Mintek, which needs to partner with researchers in Australia and Canada to do what is best for mining in South Africa and Africa.

“Our aspirations for the growth and development of our economy, as espoused in the NDP, require that we accelerate all efforts to ensure that mining continues to contribute meaningfully, and assists us in eliminating the triple challenge of unemployment, inequality and poverty,” the Minister said.