The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will, in collaboration with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and Brand South Africa, host a South African Investment Roundtable on the margins of the twenty-fifth Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, on February 5.

Team South Africa’s theme for this year’s Indaba is Invest in South African Mining.

The purpose of the roundtable is to provide potential investors from targeted countries the opportunity to interact with the South African political and business leadership, to obtain first-hand information on the issues relating to the South African mining environment.

Invited to the roundtable are potential investors from various countries including Canada, the US, India, Japan, China, Australia, the UK and Russia. 

The Indaba will take place from February 4 to 7 under the theme Championing Africa’s Sustainable Economic Development.

“The South African government has identified the Mining Indaba as a strategic forum to attract and promote foreign direct investments in different industries of our mining sector,” Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies commented in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“The Indaba is billed as the largest mining investment event covering the entire value-chain. Our Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) identifies mineral beneficiation as an area of work that presents an abundance of opportunities which investors can take advantage of in order to grow our mining sector. This provides the massive potential of contributing in growing the country’s economy, creating jobs, transformation and eradicating poverty.”

He added that downstream beneficiation of primary minerals contributes considerably to socioeconomic development.

Davies indicated that the conference is the first after the release of the third iteration of the Mining Charter and the event will serve as a test of its acceptance by international mining investors.

“The country’s minerals beneficiation strategy seeks to optimise synergies and linkages between mineral value-chains to promote economic diversification, focusing on industrial capacity development in energy commodities, as well as the iron, steel and titanium value-chains,” concluded Davies.