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InDABA ReVIeW
Rays of African light but how
long will they stay lit?
he first week of February saw the traditional gathering of miners, explorers, financiers
T and governments from around the world in Cape Town for the annual Investing in African
Mining Indaba. After 26 years, the conference has spawned an entire “festival of mining”
with seemingly every corner of the beautiful, historic Mother City filled with dealmakers
and negotiators. Mining Indaba week has become a barometer for the health of the mining
sector on the continent with participants taking the opportunity to promote their countries and
companies, ink deals and contracts and strike new partnerships and agreements. Paydirt’s
editorial team did its best to cover every aspect of the week, from the main event to the
sideline 121 Conference and the myriad related functions and meetings. In our review, we look
at the headline-making companies and themes which fuelled debate throughout the week
hile chinks of sunshine returned to Minister for Mineral Resources & En- South Africa’s sub-1% GDP growth out-
Wmany corners of the Investing in ergy, Gwede Mantashe, opened the con- look for 2020.
African Mining Indaba, the host country ference and his address and subsequent The country’s mining production fell
itself is still battling to keep the lights on. press conference were dominated by the in 2019 by 2.8%, similar to 2018 ac-
The 26th Mining Indaba took place latter part of his portfolio. cording to the Minerals Council South
amid yet another round of load-shedding Mantashe acknowledged the prob- Africa, which also pointed to logistical
in Cape Town and wider South Africa as lems energy constraints had caused to constraints (like rail capacity), disrup-
problems at state electricity company the economy, pointing to power outages tions (electricity provision) and industrial
Eskom continued to blight the country. and structural constraints as reasons for action as well as community unrest, as
Page 30 MaRCH 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT
