LARA SMITH The Investing in African Mining Indaba is a forum that brings the entire mining supply chain, traders, consultants, academics, financiers, engineers and miners together under one roof
Mining consultancy Core Consultants will be discussing its new service offerings, particularly focusing on the launch of fully customised subscription reports and the ability to undertake metal-lurgical testwork on behalf of clients, at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, which will run from February 3 to 6, says Core Consultants MD Lara Smith.
The event enables the firm to understand the market in terms of prospective projects, to determine what kind of research and analysis would benefit clients the most and to set itself goals for the year, based on the findings, she adds.
Smith emphasises the importance of the indaba, as it is a forum that brings the entire mining supply chain, traders, consultants, academics, financiers, engineers and miners together under one roof.
She explains that the international com-munity regards Core Consultants as a con-sultancy that is a gateway to African projects and, therefore, the African Mining Indaba, which attracts an array of international industry participants, is one of the firm’s most important events.
In addition to the upcoming indaba, Core Consultants has participated in the last four events, including the first Asian Mining Indaba hosted in Singapore in 2012.
“For 20 years, the African Mining Indaba has put African mining on the map and South Africa, as the host country has benefited from this event directly through investment and indirectly through tourism and business travel,” she says.
Advisory and procurement firm Beijing Axis MD Kobus van der Wath will provide his insights on the Chinese market, which is useful to commodity analysts, says Smith.
Meanwhile, Smith highlights that Africa and particularly South Africa, has received negative press among investment communities of late, adding that, since 2008, the number of strikes in the mining sector and the recent debate of possible mine nationalisation have been contributing considerably to the perception of increased investment risk.
While Africa has supplied the world with commodities since the 1800’s, more recently other continents, such as South America and Asia have proved able to offer valuable resources, metals and minerals.
In 2012, only 15% of global exploration by value was spent in Africa. However, from 2000 to 2011, only 5% of the global exploration budget went into African projects.
Although 2014 is an election year in South Africa, which will create uncertainty among investors, Smith is hoping the African Mining Indaba will portray South Africa and Africa in a positive light and showcase the vast opportunities that the continent has to offer, she concludes.