South Africa’s economic growth remains inadequate to drive the changes required for the country’s socioeconomic challenges and the continued delay in the promulgation of key minerals legislation is deterring the investment required to make South Africa’s mining industry fire on all cylinders.

South Africa has a massive socioeconomic challenge ahead of it, which the current government worsens by leaving it in mid-air for years and it was right and proper for Exxaro Resources CEO Mxolisi Mgojo to begin last week’s presentation of results with that sober message. (Also see page 8 of this edition of Mining Weekly.)

By holding back the flywheel of the South African economy and deterring investment, government is stunting economic growth at a time when commodity prices are beginning to improve and being ready to capitalise on them is crucial.

It is also good that Exxaro makes these points as it is a special case. It has been a majority-black-owned diversified mining company for most of its existence and many who glibly demand elaborate augmentations to this status should take a look at how growth-inhibiting making things too burdensome can become.

Government should go out of its way to ensure that black equity control does not destabilise the balance sheets of both the company and its black partners.

Mgojo set a good example by spelling things out to government in his opening remarks and other business leaders would do well to take a cue from him.

Bad politics is hurting everyone; street protest is becoming a daily occurrence.

When it comes to mining, pleas to government to rein in its errant Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) have fallen on deaf ears, despite mine closure threats, policy uncertainty, unworkable targets, static investment and falling employment.

Little wonder that the South African mining industry now ranks seventy-fourth out of 104 mining jurisdictions in the Fraser Institute ranking for investment attractiveness.

Meanwhile, South Africa has reached a level in mine safety that only new mining methods will tackle.
The country suffered a 31% year-on-year increase in the number of mining fatalities recorded between January 1 and March 6, when 17 occurred, compared with 13 in the first three months of 2016. (Also see page 21 of this edition of Mining Weekly.)

Fatalities in the gold sector increased to eight between January and early March, from five in the comparable period of 2016, and the coal sector, which recorded no fatalities during the first quarter of 2016, suffered two occupational deaths in the first quarter of this year.

Kumba Iron Ore CEO Themba Mkhwanazi summed up the feelings of all the mining company CEOs Mining Weekly has interviewed when he confided at the 2017 CoalSafe conference, where the worsening situation was divulged, that there is no worse feeling than “having blood on one’s hands” on account of the death of an employee.