Gold mining, which is going through a rough patch, needs more tender loving care from host governments. It is all very well for Western investors to play their silly games with gold, but someone needs to remind them that they are playing with people’s livelihoods in gold mining countries. One of the most exposed to the vagaries of the dilettante Western investor community is the African country of Tanzania, which relies on gold for 36% of its foreign exchange earnings. As World Gold Council (WGC) director of gold for development Terry Heymann points out on page 6 of this edition of Mining Weekly, gold’s role in transforming countries and boosting communities is huge. Yet governments take gold for granted.

Because gold mining is a mature industry, governments do little to see that it keeps going. Instead, they sometimes inhibit its very existence. Heymann, who was speaking to Mining Weekly from London, was commenting on a 50-page study just released, which shows the colossal potential of gold to boost the macroeconomics of countries as well as play a major role in the development of communities. Produced by PwC, the WGC-commissioned study calculates that gold made a direct contrition of $210-billion-plus to the world’s economy in 2012 – and now the hunt is on to calculate its total direct and indirect contribution, which is likely to be at least twice as much.

But despite the tough times for gold, gold miners are still managing to put money aside for the benefit of communities. As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting its host and labour-sending communities, AngloGold Ashanti South Africa has unveiled a R1.8-million science laboratory at Goso Forest Junior Secondary School, in Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape. Read on page 39 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the company wanting to ignite community interest in science and engineering at an early age. The science laboratory will serve as a hub for a circuit of 20 schools, each school averaging 1 000 learners. A local contractor built the facility using local people and locally sourced hardware.

Australian mining-refuge chamber manufacturer MineARC Systems has opened its first Africa-based facility in North Riding, Johannesburg, in a move that high commissioner for Australia Graeme Wilson believes demonstrates a show of confidence in the local mining industry by the Australian private sector. Read on page 17 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the South African operation being MineARC’s third largest globally. It has been opened ahead of the company delivering the first of 17 refuge chambers to Anglo American Coal’s New Denmark colliery, in Mpumalanga. The chambers are able to house 16 miners for up to 48 hours in the event of an underground fire, smoke or gas emergency. The company is active in 27 African countries. Wilson reported that 250 Australian mining companies are currently active in 43 African countries.