Mining in focus
An exploration licence in Botswana is valid
for seven years and Siwawa said that it takes,
on average, less than one month to be awarded
a prospecting licence. Mosa Mabuza, CEO
of the South Africa Council for Geoscience,
said in a panel discussion at the Junior Mining
Indaba, that the literature in Botswana is
excellent and that South Africa can learn a
lot from them, including the time it takes to
award the necessary licences.
Focus on mapping
Funding the main concern
South Africa has the potential to once again
become the exploration hub of the word, and
Mantashe and company know it. But there are
challenges, with funding being the number
one concern for exploration outfits. However,
as Smart points out, if the project has good
geology, it will be funded, no matter where it
is. “The major problem is that there are still too
many regulations. The only way to get funding
is to have fewer regulations to comply with,”
says Smart.
With traditional institutions reluctant
to fund exploration projects, new financing
models will become increasingly important
to develop mines of the future, according
to Olebogeng Sentsho, CEO of the Simba
Mgodi Fund.
Sentsho says her company has been looking
at alternative methods like crowdfunding and
blockchain technology to finance projects, and
has assisted nine companies, mostly in the
coal mining space, since its inception.
“Exploration companies also have to
become better at telling their stories, so
that non-traditional funders have a better
understanding of what they do,” she said.
Sentsho spoke at the Junior Mining Indaba.
But it’s make or break for the mining
industry in South Africa. If the drill rigs are
not unleashed in the next year or two, it is
difficult to see the country maintain its status
as one of the top mining destinations in the
world. Let’s hope the governing party, and all
its factions, are aware of this.
“Exploration is critical for the South African
mining industry. For every USD1 that one
invests in exploration, there is a possible return
of USD25 in five years. In South Africa we
have neglected geoscience, and we need to
relook the mapping of the country. The key to
unlocking our potential is to make information,
including historic and new data, available.
Mining companies need to assist in providing
us with information as well, and we need to
improve the timelines to make this information
available,” Mabuza said. He added that there
is light at the end of the tunnel, and that
government has made R20-billion available for
mapping over the next 10 years.
Although many believe South Africa
has been fully explored, there are still many
unknowns hidden beneath its surface. There is a
growing feeling amongst geologists that all the
gold ore bodies have not been found, and areas
in the Free State like Kroonstad, Bothaville and
east of the Vredefort Dome are currently under
scrutiny.
Mantashe keeps on mentioning coal in the
Springbok Flats in Limpopo, while Gerick
Mouton, senior vice president at Ivanplats,
said at the Junior Indaba that the Northern
limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex has
not been fully explored for its Platinum
Group Metals.
Ivanplats is about to bring the Platreef
project, close to Mokopane in the Limpopo
Province, into production. Platreef borders
Anglo American Platinum’s prolific
Mogalakwena mine, and Lonmin owns
the rights to a project 65km north of
Mogalakwena.
Mouton pointed out that the entire 65km
remains unexplored. There are also areas in the
Northern Cape manganese fields that have
not yet been looked at, and of course there are
the Waterberg coalfields, about which a lot
is known, but the scarcity of water is holding
back further development.
Early stage greenfields exploration is being hamstrung by risk averse investors.
[28] MINING MIRROR AUGUST 2019
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