Although the mining production figures for the month of August were regrettably still on a downward trajectory, sentiment in the sector has improved by leaps and bounds since Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe took office.
Disaggregation of August’s output data by Investec exposed a broad-based decline, with ten of the twelve mineral groups producing less, but with iron-ore, gold and the platinum group metal sectors being mainly responsible for the 9% decline.
The base effects from last quarter’s lift, coupled with waning commodity prices, weighed on production of late and was exacerbated by global supply dynamics, Investec said, noting that trade and geopolitical tensions abroad were not helping.
But collaboration at home is kindling hope for the future. Although work still has to be done to make Mining Charter III a competitive document, the spirit is excellent in both the private and public parts of the business, which bodes well for production making that needed upturn going forward.
The South African people deserve the best they can get from their rich minerals endowment, which is worth trillions of dollars, provided it can be brought to surface profitably.
Once on surface, there should be insistence that the metals and minerals are processed optimally, using the best technology available, and then also transported and marketed in the best possible way.
The good news is that Transnet Freight Rail is aspiring to do better on the logistics front. This is clear from the State-owned rail company’s successful testing of a manganese train with 375 wagons. In taking this cost-containing step, full use was made of new technology.
It is also a visible response to the promise made by Mantashe at the Africa Down Under conference, in Perth, earlier this year, that the railing of manganese would be improved.
Transnet Freight Rail needs to ensure that there are no repeats of the derailments that plagued both iron-ore and manganese transport in the first half of the year.
Six derailments – four involving iron-ore trains and two involving manganese trains – were a blot on the rail company’s copybook. Regrettably, they were also allowed to go unreported until the private-sector revealed all when presenting financial results, months after the incidents took place.
For their part, the private-sector participants of the mining business need to go all out to lower the rate of deaths at work, which have risen so sadly in the last two years and may well rise again in 2018, given that there have already been 69 fatalities this year. The 88 deaths in 2017 were already an unacceptable regression.
Last week’s safety summit in Benoni had to be deliberately moved forward from its initially scheduled dates in November in a bid to stay off worsening safety statistics.
A massive collective effort by all stakeholders is needed to put mining as a whole on an upward trajectory for the good of the South African people.