Mining lives, breathes and has its being in new investment. It cannot exist without new investment because it voraciously depletes the very assets that give strength to its balance sheet. The long delay around the regulatory framework and the risk that Minerals Ministers have seen fit to mete out to mining over the years has left investors turning to resource addresses where there is less investor risk. By now, the South African government should have realised that only economic growth can keep a democracy going and that the way to grow an economy is to enable the private sector to generate wealth, taxes and jobs at a level that no government can do on its own. Putting an end to mistrusting business and opening the way for economic growth will breathe new life into South Africa’s young democracy and establish South Africa as a catalyst for regional and continental growth.