During South Africa’s worst electricity blackouts on January 26, 2008, some in South Africa believed it to be appropriate that Eskom cut supply to the mining industry for five days, on the basis that the sector no longer really mattered to the economy.
It is from this gross misconception that Chamber of Mines of South Africa senior executive Roger Baxter sets out to prove the exact opposite, with a momentous number of hard-and-fast facts at his disposal.
Firstly, without mining, there would be no electricity, as coal currently fuels 94% of South Africa’s power needs.
Secondly, for those wanting to receive their power from the wind, a wind turbine uses 335 t of steel, 4.7 t of copper, 13 t of fibreglass, 3 t of aluminium and 1 200 t of reinforced concrete – all having mined ingredients.
Moreover, a 2 MW wind turbine would have to be placed every 240 m between Durban and Cape Town to replace a mere 3 000 MW coal power.
Thirdly, cellphones require 16 g of copper, not to talk of the silver, gold, palladium, platinum, rare earths, indium and titanium.
Fourthly, getting around on wheels is not possible without 30 mined metals and minerals, the greatest being 960 kg of iron and steel, 109 kg of aluminium, 19 kg of copper and 19 kg of silicon, not to talk of the lead, zinc, manganese, chromium, nickel and platinum.
Fifthly, even a bright smile comes courtesy of mining, in that the silica, limestone, aluminium, phosphate, fluoride, titanium, mica and petroleum in toothpaste have to be dug out of the ground.
South African miners do not just dig dirt. A company like Sasol generates R165-billion worth of value from 45-million tons of coal.
Nearly half of South Africa’s petrol and diesel and most of its chemicals and plastics have mined coal as their source.
Over and above the R468-billion that mining contributes to South Africa’s gross domestic product and the 1.3-million jobs that it underpins, mining-linked downstream industries give the country another R300-billion worth of extra sales value and 150 000 additional jobs.
Also, with a bit of national encouragement, the industry has the nous to lift export revenue well beyond the current 50% mark and create another 200 000 jobs.