It makes huge economic sense to encourage mineral exploration

7th May 2021 By: Martin Creamer - Creamer Media Editor

It makes huge economic sense to encourage mineral exploration

Mining, preceded by exploration, is the greatest economic multiplier of all business activities, including government expenditure, says Integral Asset Management chief investment officer Bruce Williamson.

It therefore makes huge sense for government to enact attractive, investment-friendly policies that encourage exploration and mining, which in turn give rise to mining towns and cities, for example Johannesburg.

Apart from the infrastructure required to build a mine and the plant and equipment, and the daily consumables, mines require auditors, accountants, lawyers, insurance, tax advisers, bankers, stock exchanges, and the people living in the towns they create require food, housing, schools, healthcare, shops and everything else that goes with life and living. Great policy can even make uneconomic mineral resources economic. So, make it as easy as possible to get the ore out of the ground.