Mining Indaba review
Another important matter that was
addressed at this year’s conference was
that of diversity in the mining industry,
particularly regarding attracting more
women to mining. Grose highlighted that
Mining Indaba as an organisation had
over 70% of women. “I think we’ve got the
responsibility to drive the industry in this
area,” Chapman said. To address this, every
session panel at Mining Indaba had at least
one woman on the panel.
Investor friendly
The whole point of making the changes was
to reinstate the investment focus of Mining
Indaba. To achieve this, the conference is free
of charge to investors and has been for the
past three years. Investors could also access
a personalised service from Mining Indaba’s
investment relations team. With good
knowledge about mining corporates, the team
would be in the best position to advise investors
on how to make the most of the conference
and set up meetings with the right people.
Organisers also did significant work on
the matchmaking system. This included
extensive work done on the categories on
the back-end of the system to make it more
www.africanmining.co.za
user-friendly and efficient for delegates
with regard to setting up meetings with
the right people. The categories distinguish
between mining companies, investors, and
projects, among others. The matchmaking
service was accessible to all delegates, not
just investors.
Outcome of the changes
Grose pointed out that the timing of all
the changes being made could not have
been better for both Africa and South
Africa. He mentioned that the South
African mining industry was going
through changes.
“If you look at the landscape of driving
investment into Africa with the resources
and the skills that South Africa has, we
believe that it is a great thing for South
African mining. Our job now is to support
that; to make sure we’ve got all the players
to bring the investment,” Grose said.
The changes and the shift to restore the
investment focus to Mining Indaba did
not happen overnight. It is the result of a
lot of research and hard work from a team
committed to making the conference
Mining Indaba MD Alex Grose addressing delegates during his
welcoming address.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo speaking at the conference.
the best it can be. “We are listening, and
we are making it better for everyone,”
Chapman said.
Many delegates who attended Mining
Indaba could see the difference at this
year’s conference, with most of them
saying that there was a significant
improvement compared to the past two
years. Dennis Gibson, chief technical
officer of mining at Black & Veatch,
said that the degree of positivity at the
conference exceeded his expectations.
“This year has been very positive.
Mining companies and governments
are working a lot closer in a number of
very important resource states, which is
important,” he commented.
As the conference drew to a close, it
became clear that organisers had managed
to achieve the task they had set out for
themselves: Bring back the investment
focus to Indaba. The outcome has seen an
increase in investors and delegates and
a return of previous investors. Investing
in African Mining Indaba 2019 raised
the bar and in so doing, created many
expectations for 2020. b
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