Africa’s mining industry still had a long way to go, compared with the other global mining majors, Australia and Brazil, said banking group Standard Bank London iron-ore head Melinda Moore, addressing the Metal Bulletin Events second African iron-ore conference in Johannesburg, in November.

She said Australia and Brazil had been involved in mining operations for a longer time than many African countries and that Australia and Brazil, therefore, had access to better infrastructure and resources.

In terms of where it was in the market, South Africa was the seventh-largest iron-ore producer, while Africa, as a whole, had a growing market share of 6% to 7% of the world’s total iron-ore production, mostly owing to the abundance of iron-ore in Sierra Leone.

The conference highlighted certain factors that needed to be considered when analysing the value of Africa’s mining industry. “African business relationships, key mining attributes, African iron-ore and how it is priced, as well as where it should be priced, are some of the key issues that need to be addressed when analysing the performance of the mining industry in Africa,” said Moore.

She added that European iron-ore demand was not only stagnant, but also decreasing.

Iron-ore demand in China changed remark- ably from month to month, owing to a range of factors Moore identified. In winter, for example, construction in China slowed down, therefore reducing the demand for iron-ore.

“Africa, however, is interesting, since it has iron-ore lumps, concentrates and fines in various grades,” she said.

Moore also mentioned that Africa was in an ideal position geographically and in terms of its abundance in resources and availability of labour. Further, the growing interest in Western Africa’s rich iron-ore deposits was resulting in many mining giants investing in the region.