The recent mining gathering in Cape Town once again highlighted the failure of government and its State-owned companies to provide the policy, administrative and infrastructure frameworks and capacity needed to take full advantage of existing mining activity, as well as to stimulate the exploration needed to unlock the next generation of critical minerals. Collapsing rail and power networks, together with dismal law enforcement, saw the country missing out on the most recent commodity boom. And the lack of a functional cadastre means that it could well miss out on the next one too.