THANK YOU READERS , CONTRIBUTORS , ADVERTISERS – LIFEBLOOD TO AFRICAN MINING !

The team at African Mining would like to take this opportunity to thank our readers , contributors and advertisers for their continued and unwavering support – you are the lifeblood of our publication , and the reason African Mining , incorporating Mining Mirror is still going strong after 37 years of disseminating relevant business intelligence to the African continent !

The African Mining publication reader stats are independently audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation of South Africa on a quarterly basis , and we are currently 21 061 readers strong , with a verified print and digital readership of 3 726 and 17 335 , respectively . We could not have done this without our valued readers , our loyal advertisers and industry experts , suppliers and associations who feed us , with not only the needs of industry , but the solutions to the many challenges the mining sector faces in Africa and globally . 1

This month ’ s issue delves whole-heartedly into the challenges affecting the life blood of our industry – exploration and the Junior Mining sector . Our operational feature looks at the local developments in this sector , which is clearly a key to opening up economic growth in any mining industry , proven to be the backbone to most African economies . Our ‘ Country in Focus ’ looks at African mining potential in eSwatini , while we visit the historic Giyani Greenstone Goldfield with Dr Nicolaas C Steenkamp – yet another area just waiting for a boost of investment to resuscitate more latent opportunities in South Africa .

However , the challenge is – leaning on an analogy the outgoing CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa Roger Baxter often refers to – our industry nervous system fed by the electrons from Eskom and our vascular system – Transnet – are failing , and although the private business sector is becoming the defibrillator to support government and the industry , it is going to take time to attract investment . To this point our MTE article highlights the issues at the Richard ’ s Bay port , where the heart is under strain and our African Energy article looks at digitising for an optimised , environmentally friendly grid .

Injecting ‘ energy ’ and tech solutions into industry , and helping to support and sustain the economy , are events such as Mining and Technical Exhibitions ( run by our sister company , taking innovation and our publication to the coal-face ) and A-OSH , discussed in detail in ‘ A port of call with a difference ’ article and our safety feature respectively , while our insight article reminds us of the importance of responsible sourcing when it comes to sourcing of crucial minerals that will help provide alternate sources of energy .

While industry labours to keep the economy hydrated and energised ; and works hard to clear its vascular system of years of corruption and mismanagement induced cholesterol with improved efficiencies created by the burgeoning digitalisation trend ( covered in our tech article ); we can only hope for a better future with government and private business collaboration and partnership . •

References :

1 . In this issue , we would like to ask you for your valued feedback . Please let us know what you love about the publication , what you want to see in the future and where you feel we could add more value to the industry . Please e-mail Sharyn on sharyn @ interactmedia . co . za

Sharyn Macnamara

African Mining June 2023 | Page 5

THANK YOU READERS , CONTRIBUTORS , ADVERTISERS – LIFEBLOOD TO AFRICAN MINING !