South Africa is a mining country which was supposed to have a mineral exploration strategy by the end of last month. But, as I write, none has been forthcoming, despite the commitment being made publicly, for all to hear, at a mining event last year.
The losers are the South African people because, without exploration, mining will grind to a halt very much earlier than it should. There are many exploration countries with models to follow. No reinvention of the wheel is needed and today’s exploration technology is superb.
But we’re very slow on the uptake. Ironically, many other countries buy our Proudly South African cadastres but we don’t. How odd. The upshot is that there is no transparency and no investment. Such a missed opportunity.