Industry intelligence
Mantashe’s Indaba sweet talk
South Africa needs to
make structural changes
to unlock
investment.
Veeran says he hopes the minister will
address important issues like corruption,
policy certainty, and administrative efficiency,
as he touched on all those areas. “We would
have hoped the minister would map a
longer-term path for the industry over the
next three years. But he made no extravagant
promises,” Veeran concludes.
South Africa’s mineral resources minister,
Gwede Mantashe, delivered a pragmatic
opening address at the annual Mining
Indaba in Cape Town in February,
indicating a depth of understanding of
some of the issues that are holding back
growth and investment.
According to Webber Wentzel partner
Jonathan Veeran, the minister’s summary of
the state of the industry and the difficulty
it faces in growing in a global context,
without the benefit of battery minerals, is
realistic.
“The mining minister has worked in
the industry as a miner himself, and his
familiarity with the issues underpins his
realistic view. He understands that South
Africa needs to make structural changes to
unlock investment,” Veeran says.
Mantashe possibly sees his role
differently from his predecessors in
bringing together communities, labour, and
mining houses, adds Veeran.
Jonathan Veeran, partner at Webber Wentzel.
Vedanta does business with a purpose
The concept of ‘business with purpose’ is
central to Vedanta Zinc International’s
(VZI) work in South Africa and southern
Africa, according to Deshnee Naidoo,
CEO of VZI.
Naidoo addressed delegates at the 25th
Investing in African Mining Indaba that
took place in Cape Town in February.
Naidoo said Vedanta believes that business
has a responsibility to uplift as it develops
— and that profit can and should be
responsibly generated.
“The value that is created should serve a
greater social purpose. This does not mean
that the company sees itself as something
other than a commercial operation, but
that it recognises that, at every step of its
decision-making, the business must serve a
greater purpose,” said Naidoo.
In South Africa, Vedanta’s focus is
on Gamsberg in the Northern Cape.
It forms part of the Black Mountain
Mining Complex and is on one of the
largest unexploited zinc ore bodies in the
world. Black Mountain has a reserve and
resource of 214 million tonnes (Mt), with
an average grade of between 6% and 6.5%
and an estimated life of mine of 30 years.
Phase 1, a USD400-million investment,
has now been concluded and the first
concentrate production was shipped late
last year.
At every step of its decision-making, the
Deshnee Naidoo, CEO of Vedanta Zinc
International.
business must serve a greater purpose.
Palladium futures still a hit
Palladium futures settled at a record level
above USD1400 early in February. However,
the metal’s epic rise may soon give way as
investors question the staying power of a
rally that landed prices above gold for the
first time in over 16 years.
In March, palladium settled at
USD1407.20 an ounce. That was the highest
most-active contract settlement on record.
Strong demand from the auto sector, along
with tighter global supplies of the metal, has
driven the price gains.
[4] MINING MIRROR APRIL 2019
In a recent report by Johnson Matthey, the
total gross demand for palladium rose by
1% to 10.1 million ounces. Of that,
automotive demand reached a new all-time
high of 8.66 million ounces, up 3% from
2017. Palladium is mostly used in pollution-
controlling catalytic converters on gasoline-
powered vehicles.
According to R. Michael Jones, CEO of
Platinum Group Metals, market-driving
factors, including platinum-mine
closures, which tightens palladium
production, and US sport utility vehicle
and truck sales, are “coming home to
roost”.
As said by Ross Strachan, senior
commodities economist at Capital
Economics, the elevated palladium price is
unlikely to last.
Total global palladium supplies rose to
6.88 million ounces in 2018, up just over
8% from a year earlier, according to the
report from Johnson Matthey.
Source: Marketwatch
www.miningmirror.co.za