To enhance the educational value and experience for attendees, preconference workshops will be held for the first time at the 2013 Investing in African Mining Indaba.

The workshops, to be held on February 4, have been introduced in response to feedback received from delegates seeking in-depth sessions on industry subjects, Mining Indaba managing director and senior VP of events Jonathan Moore tells Mining Weekly.

“The addition of the preconference workshops introduces a new branch of content for those attendees who wish to participate in detailed sessions on targeted subjects before the main conference at the Mining Indaba, to be held from February 4 to 7 in Cape Town, she adds, noting that 50% of the maximum allocated space had already been reserved by November.

“This favourable response is attributed to the quality of the courses to be presented to delegates at the 2013 Investing in African Mining Indaba and the involvement of its key partners – oil and gas management advisers Global Pacific & Partners, resource intelligence company Intierra Resource Intelligence and raw materials database provider Raw Materials Group (RMG).”

The organiser is diligent in seeking new sources for critical content and networking opportunities and in enabling relationship building for its delegates, Moore points out.

The workshops enable full participation in the sessions by providing a greater understanding of the industry and comprise instructional courses on critical topics, with the main focus on the sub-Saharan economy and global commodities markets – both are relevant to the Indaba’s audience and aligned with its overall content, Moore notes.

The first workshop will comprise one session presented by Global Pacific & Partners chairperson and CEO Dr Duncan Clarke.

The session, which will focus on sub-Saharan Africa, is themed Strategy Briefing Images: Africa as Never Seen Before and will provide a political economy forensic report on the shifting economic and business worlds of multiple States – their complexities, strengths and structural dynamics.

It will highlight cyclical performance and economic growth development fundamentals, the unlocking of natural resources and the fast-moving corporate scramble for Africa by foreign countries and companies, which increasingly have a myriad of African interests within the continent’s emerging geopolitical landscape.

The second workshop – Mining Insight: An Industry Explained – will comprise six sessions, presented by Intierra Resource Intelligence editorial director Chris Hinde and RMG MD Magnus Ericsson.