SOUTH African mines minister Gwede Mantashe urged China to contribute to the government’s R400m minerals development fund and said “King Coal is back” owing to a carbon emissions reduction programme.
Speaking at the China Mining Conference and Exhibition held in the northern province of Tianjin, Mantashe also said that while South Africa was renowned for gold production in the past, there were large resources of critical minerals for development.
He may however have talked past his audience. In encouraging critical minerals, he asked China to help South Africa invest in its beneficiation processeses. Normally China is keen on importing minerals for its highly developed downstream sector.
Mantashe also talked up platinum group metals to the detriment of gold – an industry he said was “currently undergoing that period which is characterised by deep level mines and heightened safety concerns”.
China’s Jinchuan Group has ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into Wesizwe Platinum without reward and is currently considering a request for more investment before its Bakubung mine can be commissioned. This is amid a hefty decline in PGM prices with a significant recovery having not yet materialised.
Another oddity is that contrary to general view of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which commentators have praised for bringing much-needed stability to South Africa’s economic landscape, Mantashe found himself casting about for the positives, landing on the assessment that at least “diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China remain intact”.
Commenting on a new minerals cadastre, Mantashe said his Department of Mineral Resources had implemented the first phase of the project “and we are well on course to complete the migration process by June next year”.
A new minerals cadastre would represent a massive step forward for South Africa’s exploration sector. In May, the DMRE announced a service level agreement had been signed with a cadastre development consortium.
Speaking at the Africa Down Under in Perth on September 4 Mantashe said “… the meticulous implementation of the new system is advancing very well with an intention to complete the migration process by June next year”.
