Comment
Mining Mirror
takes a bow
Get in touch
@LeonLouw3
[email protected]
www.miningmirror.co.za
T
his, the August 2019 issue of Mining Mirror,
will be the last in its current form. After much
deliberation, we have decided to publish only
one monthly mining magazine from now
on. So, from September 2019, Mining Mirror will be
incorporated into its extremely popular sister publication,
African Mining. Having edited both these magazines
for many years, I am excited about the change, and will
continue to put you, the reader, first in our endeavour to
become the most widely read mining magazine around.
We will continue to provide you with high quality, relevant
information and content that will assist the entire mining
fraternity in making informed operational and high-level
business decisions.
The popular mine excursion will remain our most
important feature, and we aim to physically visit and
report about more mines in more African countries and
get our boots even dirtier than we have in the past. Every
issue will further focus on a specific region or country
in Africa, and we will dissect the risk, challenges and
opportunities. The Mining in Focus sections will remain,
in which we will continue keeping you informed about
the latest trends and issues affecting the mining industry
in general. Exploration, geology, technology, regulations,
mechanisation and community and environmental issues
are only some of the talking points we will focus on.
We will talk to, and include the increasing number of
junior miners, junior exploration companies and women
in mining in our content. Africa is marching ahead in
its development, and mining will play an integral part in
the continent eventually realising its great potential. The
new look African Mining (Incorporating Mining Mirror)
will be there every step of the way as we look at the
politics and socio-economic factors, and how it drives the
transformation of the mining industry.
Mining Mirror was the first mining magazine in South
Africa to go to print. I paged through some old magazines
recently and realised just how much the mining industry
has changed over 40 years. In the 1970s and ’80s Mining
Mirror was mostly focused on South Africa, and there
wasn’t a big variety of mining companies around. Those
were the days when mining in the rest of Africa was
unheard of and referred to in the same dismissive way we
talk about mining in space today. The term ‘junior miner’
didn’t exist, and the lone wolves with hammers in their
hands who ventured into Africa, were frowned upon.
Women were not even allowed underground, and any
woman journalist who dared to write about mining was
scoffed at. Those were the days when South Africans
thought their gold would last forever and beware anyone
who mentioned that another African country, especially
Ghana, would produce more gold in the future.
Being editor of Mining Mirror has required of me to
travel across South Africa and far beyond its borders.
I’ve been down its deepest shafts and stood in the
bottom of its largest open pit operations. As editor of
African Mining I’ve visited mines in the DRC, Zambia,
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nigeria,
Ghana and Tanzania. Our new magazine, African Mining
(Incorporating Mining Mirror) will require me to push
the boundaries even further, like the legendary editors of
Mining Mirror and African Mining did for so many years
before me. Mining Mirror, take a bow, you have served the
industry well!
Leon
Editor
AUGUST 2019 MINING MIRROR [1]