To generate awareness and emphasise the importance of Canada as a source of funding and expertise for mining investment in Africa, Canada-based mining business development and marketing company MineAfrica will use this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba.

MineAfrica VP Wayne Floreani says the Mining Indaba is an important event for Africa as mining is the biggest driver of investment into the continent, yet the mining opportunities are often misunderstood or clouded by misconceptions in countries such as Canada and the UK.

Perhaps the biggest misconception by Westerners, he says, is viewing Africa as a single entity rather than 57 distinct countries.

Floreani explains that, owing to this, when a negative issue arises in a specific country, the issue is often assumed to be the case across the entire continent.

“The event is an opportunity to showcase these investment opportunities and address the misconceptions.

“The Mining Indaba, being held in Cape Town from February 4 to 7, is the biggest African mining investment event, and our target market is in attendance,” he says, adding that MineAfrica will be exhibiting at the Canadian pavilion at the event.

Floreani says Mining Indaba is also important for finding collective solutions to the challenges facing mining in Africa, which is, despite these challenges, along with Latin America, the mining jurisdiction with the most untapped potential.

“The global financial crisis, labour unrest, resource nationalisation through additional taxes and royalties, corruption and competition from more investor-friendly countries all pose challenges for the African mining industry.

“Possible solutions include implementing investor-friendly policies, improving transparency, reducing crime rates and corruption and, thereafter, effectively marketing this to the international investment community while highlighting successful case studies,” he states.

MineAfrica will also use the Mining Indaba to promote its upcoming Africa-focused seminars to take place in London and Toronto this year.

To deal with the challenges, Floreani says MineAfrica’s seminars feature project updates by junior exploration and mining companies active in all regions of Africa, as well as technical presentations on doing business in Africa’s mining industry by advisers to the industry, covering a range of topics.

“These topics include financing African projects and reducing risks through effective corporate social responsibility programmes.

“Our programmes are pro- Africa, but balanced, as they recognise the challenges of doing business in Africa and the potential rewards for investors,” he says.

Floreani tells Mining Weekly that the seminars will be a platform for mining companies, African governments and service providers to promote themselves to a senior-level Africa-friendly audience of financial and mining executives.

“On March 3, we will be hosting our third seminar with South African law firm Webber Wentzel on ‘Navigating Africa’s Mining Terrain: Perceptions and Reality’, in Toronto, Canada, and on March 5, also in Canada, we will host our eleventh annual Investing in African Mining seminar, which, combined with the Canada-Southern Africa Chamber of Business’s fourteenth annual Mining Breakfast, is the biggest African mining event in North America.

“Our opening breakfast speaker is South African Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources Godfrey Oliphant, and we have executive chairperson and founder of Ivanplats Robert Friedland as our keynote speaker,” he says.

Floreani adds that the com- pany is also offering mining companies, service providers and African governments booth space in the MineAfrica booths at the sold-out Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada trade show, taking place in Toronto from March 3 to 6.

Further, the company recently added a new series of events called EnergyAfrica, focused on oil and gas projects in Africa.

Floreani says it will also be offering a newly added edu- cational course under its Master- mining brand, including its three-day ‘Understanding the Mining Industry: From A –Z’, which will be held in Cape Town, just prior to the Investing in African Mining Indaba.