Way before the new millennium, leading South African gold mining companies organising secondary listings on global stock exchanges would say how determined they were to meet the so-called Ontario benchmark, a safety level attained by Canadian mining companies that became the Holy Grail for conscientious South African emulators.
The only mining jurisdiction coming anywhere near the depth of South African gold mines was Ontario and the safety levels this Canadian province achieved became the target of determined South African emulators.
But it was a level that the South African operations failed to match.
Since then, South African gold output has fallen through the floor, with South Africa now producing less than 6% of the world’s gold, and continuing to kill its mineworkers at rates that first looked like they were continuing to decline admirably, but then plateaued before rising alarmingly upwards once more.
Even though the pursuit of zero harm is at the top of the agenda and the opening statement of all mining CEOs when they present their financial results, South Africa keeps slipping further down the safety rankings.
Some define safe mines as well-managed mines. So, are South African mines badly managed? If safety is the starting point, how well are we doing across the board of the industry?
Johannesburg is a city built on mining, just as Toronto is a city built on mining, but huge mining capital and many junior listings continue to be the most significant features of the Toronto Stock Exchange, while the opposite has become the norm on the JSE, where junior mining hardly exists and major mining is on the wane.
Can all this be turned around? Of course, it can, but there has to be political and industry collaboration and this is failing to surface, despite the new political dispensation.
More than 50% of the public mining companies globally are headquartered in Canada and more than half of capital investment in the mining business has been through the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Mining in Canada makes significant tax contributions to all levels of government, helping to pay for public priorities like healthcare, education and infrastructure. Mining offers versatile and rewarding careers, at pay levels significantly higher than Ontario averages. With links to manufacturing, engineering, banking, education, legal services, transport, construction, environmental management and geological work, mining contributes an economic multiplier effect.
The penny needs to drop in South Africa that mineral resource development is critical to creating high-value jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. Worker health and safety must not only be a top priority, but South Africans must cease stopping other South Africans from embarking on ongoing improvement programmes.
Those who stand in the way of such a turnaround should be smartly manoeuvred to the side for the benefit of the majority.