Modern Mining April 2024

MINING INDABA REVIEW

Mining indaba 2024 – recognised as a platform for positive disruptive change

C elebrating its 30 th anniversary and marking three decades of commitment to Africa’s mining industry, the theme for Mining Indaba 2024 was ‘Embracing the power of positive disruption: A bold new future for African mining’ – designed to encourage and support the change and disruption the African mining industry needs to move forward. Insights from CEOs of Africa’s foremost mining companies were shared on the Disruptive Discussions stage where they spoke of their strategies for introducing positive transformation and disrup tions to the industry. The focus was not only on harnessing Africa’s vast mineral wealth, but also on the challenges mining companies face such as poor infrastructure and energy supply and govern ments’ willingness to make mining viable. Discussions also focused on how to ensure the benefits from mining were shared across the value chain and the transformative power of mining companies in fostering innovation and sustainability. Mining Indaba did not shy away from hard discussions, with panel discussions throughout the four-day event focused on critical issues affecting mining and the positive disruptive change needed to drive innovation to unlock Africa’s mining sector potential for the benefit of all stakeholders and role players. In a press lounge panel discussion on “combating crime and corruption in mining”, which is a critical issue of concern for com panies and investors, all three speakers agreed that it could only be dealt with through collaboration and spoke of their company’s initiatives with other role players. Dr Mashego Mashego, Executive Director: Stakeholder Relations and Corporate Affairs at Harmony and Stephan Bullock, Head of Sustainability at Anglo American Platinum, both detailed the work being done with the Minerals Council, SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority to deal with The annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, which took place in Cape Town, 5 to 8 February, presented a groundswell from governments, mining companies, in vestors and service providers to drive positive change in the industry.

Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa and Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, attended Mining Indaba. crime and corruption. Dr Mashego addressed the issue of illegal mining and the effect it had on mining companies, employees and communities, while Werner Duvenhage, Managing Director at Richards Bay Minerals, addressed procurement issues and the need for transparency in their community Trusts, and with Trust participants. Climate change remains a critical issue of our time and in the wake of COP28, the global mining industry is at the heart of the transition to green energy from addressing the reduction in carbon emissions by energy heavy consumption mining companies, to how they address the huge demand for green minerals and metals in other industries. In a Mining Indaba press lounge panel discus sion “What COP28 means for mining,” Anglo American Head of Sustainability Katie Ferguson highlighted the company’s ambitious targets in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Adam Matthews, Chief Responsible Investment Officer of the Church of England Pensions, focused on the expectations of investors explaining that they had to take a long-term view and encourage mining com panies to take a responsible, credible path to a net zero future. Beyers Nel, COO Harmony Gold outlined the company’s response to climate change and said Harmony Gold had already installed 30 MW of renewable energy that provided 6% of Harmony’s peak

More than a hundred senior government ministers and officials from 74 countries attended the event.

Insights from CEOs of Africa’s foremost mining companies were shared.

14  MODERN MINING  April 2024