https://www.miningweekly.com

Phakisa seen as a chance to reset mining dialogue

23rd October 2015

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

The upcoming government-led mining Phakisa represented a new opportunity to reset the dialogue for arrival at solutions to the many problems plaguing South Africa’s mining industry, the Joburg Indaba heard last week.

“If we engage properly, we can make a real difference,” was Credit Suisse South Africa chairperson Rick Menell’s summing up of comments on Phakisa, or Hurry Up, made by a panel that included AngloGold Ashanti chairperson Sipho Pityana, De Beers Consolidated Mines chairperson Barend Petersen, Gold Fields chairperson Cheryl Carolus, and University of Pretoria vice chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey.

Comments centred on Phakisa being a new chance for the demonstration of leadership at a difficult time during which there was a need to take short-term medicine.

“I hope Phakisa will be sufficiently comprehensive to lift us out of this crisis,” Pityana told the conference, which was attended over two days by Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly.

From 50% of the world’s mining market by any measure, South African mining was now down to 4% of the world market, with few greenfield mines being developed and going into Africa difficult.

The industry was now facing the need to modernise and at the same time deal with its legacies.

“Mining must be made attractive to international capital because domestic capital is insufficient and we must have a permissive regulatory framework given that we are in a bear market,” said Pityana, who added that the approach of engaging in collective bargaining every two years was outmoded and a framework of taking gain in good times and pain in bad times was needed to deal with the ongoing labour disruptions.

“If we cannot find a win-win to be gained by labour and business, the asset value of our mining industry will dwindle to a point where companies worth billions of dollars will only be worth millions of dollars,” warned Menell, who added that the industry also needed to accept that it was the custodian of the future of the mining industry and not the government.

Petersen urged the industry to guard against solutions based on shallow analysis and Pityana expressed the hope that the Davis Committee on Tax would not kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

Magni SA
Magni SA

Magni SA is committed to developing the safest Telehandlers available to our customers for underground and surface mining, construction, forestry,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Condra Cranes
Condra Cranes

ISO-certified Condra manufactures overhead cranes, portal cranes, cantilever cranes and crane components: hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

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:0.11 0.143s - 88pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now