The 5th annual Alternative Mining Indaba brings together civil society and faith groups to discuss the social and environmental impacts of mining in Africa.

Civil society organizations, faith groups and inter-faith organizations are meeting in Cape Town, South Africa from 4 to 6 February to host the 5th Alternative Mining Indaba. The AMI is a response to the African Mining Indaba, the largest mining investment conference in the world, and aims to highlight the social and environmental impacts of mining in Africa.

“Africa is gaining momentum and seems unstoppable in its quest to reverse the ‘resource curse’. But the captains of the mining industry need to be held accountable,” says Rev Malcolm Damon, Executive Director of Economic Justice Network. “The Alternative Mining Indaba is a result of the commitment across civil society groups to bring accountability and transparency to the mining sector.”

“Mining operations must benefit the countries where they operate by creating jobs, generating revenues and then reinvesting in health, education and infrastructure,” says Thembinkosi Dlamini, Governance Manager at Oxfam South Africa. “Instead, mining companies and governments have too often been externalizing profits and internalizing environmental impacts.”

Since 1994, financiers, investors, mining professionals, government officials and other interested parties have attended the annual African Mining Indaba. This event is said to be the “preferred destination to conduct important business and make the vital relationships to sustain investment interests”.

Four years ago organizations in the Southern African region agreed to collaborate in raising concerns about the manner in which natural resources are extracted by holding an annual Alternative Mining Indaba. The Economic Justice Network, through the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa and others, committed to mobilizing faith communities to analyse the inconsistencies in the extractive sector by providing a platform where communities could freely discuss their experiences with mining activities.

The theme of the 2014 AMI is “Our Resources. Our Future. Putting Local People First.” The forum will provide a dialogue for communities and civil society organizations to discuss progress made in improving the social, environmental and economic impacts of mining on communities. In particular, the 2014 AMI will provide an update on the efforts that countries are making to avoid a repeat of the 2012 Marikana massacre in South Africa.

“For a continent so richly endowed with natural wealth, the living and working conditions of mining communities should be higher,” says John Capel, Executive Director of Bench Marks Foundation. ”It is unacceptable that thousands of mineworkers are drowning in debt and have to deal with garnishee orders as banks and loan sharks call in high-interest repayments in an already explosive situation. This is one of the major causes of strikes as mine workers fight for higher wages and working conditions. We are aware that sustainable growth and development solutions can only be found if we all work together towards achieving this goal. Certainly, this platform will highlight some of the issues within the extractive sector involving mining communities, mine workers, companies, government and civil society, and will propose possible solutions.”

“The manner in which the mining industry has treated (and continues to treat) mineworkers is not acceptable,” says Brother Chris Molebatsi, from the Marikana community said. “The Marikana community is an example yet not an exception. The AMI is an opportunity for mining communities to galvanise their courage and come up with strategies to resist this exploitation by our governments and multinationals".

Mining is a huge industry in Africa:

• 24 of Africa’s 54 countries rely on 8 per cent of global mineral production to generate more than 75 per cent of their export earnings.1
• Billions of US dollars of foreign investment have been channelled into the African mining value chain during the past 19 years of the Mining Indaba.2
• The continent hosts about 30 per cent of the world’s total mineral reserves and an even higher portion of the global deposits of diamonds, vanadium, manganese, platinum, cobalt and gold.1

Despite this, mineral wealth has not translated into better living and working conditions for people living on the continent:

• The quality of life of a citizen in sub-Saharan Africa ranks among the lowest globally, according to the UNDP. Most communities involved in exploration have poor access to running water and electricity, community roads are neglected, and health and education infrastructure are inadequate for primary care and schooling.
• Worker unrest is growing, as was seen during the August 2012 Marikana miners’ strike where 44 people died.
• Mining has led to soil erosion, depleted water sources, affected aquatic life, accelerated desertification, increased pace of river siltation and water and air pollution.
• Communities have been forcibly evicted from their ancestral, agricultural and grazing land, negatively affecting livelihoods, endangering food security and destabilizing social systems.
• Corruption is also hampering growth: the Africa Development Bank and Global Financial Integrity reported that Africa lost more than $1.4 trillion in illicit financial flows between 1980 and 2009.3 The mining and extractive sectors are frequently plagued by corruption and contribute significantly to that figure.

The 2014 Alternative Mining Indaba will be held at the Ritz Hotel and is hosted by, among other CSOs, the Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa, Bench Marks Foundation, Norwegian Church Aid, Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers’ Association and Oxfam.