BUSINESS •

South Africa is still a mining friendly enough jurisdiction where one can generate returns .

© Andrew Macnamara , Mining and Technical Exhibitions ( MTE )

By Sharyn Macnamara

The 2022 Joburg Indaba held early October 2022 dealt with ‘ the good , the bad and the ugly ’ in the South African mining sector in equal doses . Watch this space , as African Mining covers the issues discussed in a series of articles .

Andries Rossouw , PwC Africa EU & R Leader , chaired a discussion with three captains of the industry – Neal Froneman , CEO at Sibanye-Stillwater , Chris Griffith CEO at Gold Fields ( at the time of writing ) and Nico Muller , CEO at Impala Platinum – on the pros and cons of moving beyond the bounds of South Africa , and the importance of jurisdiction in investment decisions .

Safe diversification across jurisdictions Muller noted immediately that the Impala Platinum strategy is one of diversification across jurisdictions within its single commodity portfolio – PGMs ( Platinum Group Metals ) – to avoid the risk of having ‘ all its eggs in one basket .’ The company currently has 60 % of its production base in South Africa , 30 % in Zimbabwe , and 10 % in Canada . He noted , “ Each jurisdiction has its own particular flavour . I think that there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them .”

Noting the differences across the three jurisdictions , Muller pointed out that business in Canada was probably most impacted by the pandemic – not only by the spread of the virus , but by the reaction