[miningmx.com] — THE South African mining industry would seek to formulate an industrial policy framework that would house transformation in the sector, said Nchakha Moloi, chairman of the South African Mining Development Association.
Moloi was commenting in a keynote address to the Mining for Change Conference in Johannesburg’s plush Sandton district which would also play host to presentations by international resources officials and other industry players, including Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League.
Malema, who is scheduled to present at the conference on Tuesday, attracted widespread publicity last year after calling for the nationalisation of the South African mining industry, an idea that has found its way on to the ANC national general council agenda later this year.
Moloi said the conference provided a platform for public debate about how to best harness the country’s mineral wealth for broad developmental outcomes. “Advocating for increased and meaningful black participation in the industry is insufficient,’ said Moloi.
“Thus this conference seeks to make a compelling case for the development of an industrial policy framework for the mining sector which will complement the long-term development goals of the South African government while simultaneously contributing to a broad restorative agenda vis-a-vis the social and economic empowerment of the country’s black majority.’
The minister of mineral resources Susan Shabangu was due to make a keynote speech in the topic “A case for transformation in South African mining’, but Moloi apologised on her behalf, adding that she had pulled out on the eleventh hour citing “unforeseen circumstances’.
