Calls are intensifying for South Africa to take firm steps to restore its past iconic status as a prestigious mining country.
The latest pronouncement, made in London by new South African Mining Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi, follows a series of other similar statements made by both government and the private sector.
For example, Mark Cutifani, now CEO of Anglo American, expressed keenness during the early part of his tenure in South Africa to put the country back on the mining map by expanding AngloGold Ashanti, which he headed at the time, into a diversified major that could take on the biggest from a strong Johannesburg base.
More recently, there have been calls and steps taken to create a positive legislative underpin to allow for the creation of a strong narrative that will once again highlight South Africa’s huge potential to turn its $2.3-trillion worth of metals and minerals – the world leader by value by far – to much greater economic account.
The latest Ministerial talk of restoring South Africa to its rightful place in mining status has gladdened Investec Securities, in particular.
The mining analyst’s London-based global research team said in a note last week: “We’re glad to see growing political pressure in South Africa to restore the premier status of the mining industry.”
Quoting the Financial Times of London, Investec reported that Ramatlhodi was pressing for a “national mining champion” to emerge from the corporate restructuring domestically of mining majors currently under way.
The article arose following the Minister’s visit to London to drum up support for the International Geological Congress to be held in South Africa in August next year.
Ramatlhodi’s remarks echo those made last year by African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who made a strong call for the creation of a South African mining company of substance within the country’s borders.
The Minister’s remarks were also a reverberation of what, a year before, the ANC head had stated in a guest column written specially for Mining Weekly.
Mantashe wants the creation of a local mining champion to ensure that national interests are taken to heart.
“When we change our narrative to a positive one, we will be able to change the way in which the country’s mining sector is viewed, which will, in turn, positively affect investment and the way our country is viewed on an international level,” he told a mining audience in October.
In his latest London statements, Ramatlhodi made it clear that he was not proposing a State-backed group, although he said existing State-owned mining concerns should also grow.
“I want a champion that is privately owned, run by South Africans and is a successful enterprise,” the Minister said.
Mining Weekly can reveal that Mantashe has for long contended that South Africa’s JSE was hurt by South African mining giants like Anglo American and the then Gencor, which morphed into Billiton, migrating their primary listings to global stock exchanges.
In the guest column for Mining Weekly, Mantashe condemned as “disingenuous” the use of South African capital to grow assets outside South Africa and then, once those foreign holdings mature, to separate them and to take South African assets out of their portfolios.