Modern Mining February 2025

JUNIOR MINING

Grant Mitchell, Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk (JEMD) lead.

B ut, will this positive turn of events be enough to entice international investors to the sector? Modern Mining recently spoke with Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk (JEMD) lead, Grant Mitchell, about some of the developments scheduled to influence the junior and emerging mining sector in 2025. 2025 - a transformative year for mining? With the promise that the cadastral system and amendments to the MPRDA will be shared with industry later in the year and the positive sentiment following the GNU, 2025 is expected to be a change-making year for the long-suffering mining industry.

Gold was a key commodity in 2023, attracting the largest share of exploration spending.

“The transition from illegal to legal mining is an important component and we look forward to seeing how this will be addressed in the amended MPRDA,” says Mitchell. Junior and emerging miner’s contribution The junior mining sector plays an integral part in its economic contribution to the overall industry, with

Like its peers, the sector remains cautiously upbeat, anticipating that key initiatives outlined by government will invigorate the sector and provide the impetus for future growth. These include the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe’s announcement that the much-anticipated cadastral system will be launched by July, 2025. Being an integral component of the mining sector, the Minerals Council South Africa continues to work closely with government on policy related needs for the

Mitchell citing national statistical service of South Africa, Stats SA’s Quarterly Financial Statistics (QFS), which says the sector showed significant growth, with income rising by some 23% in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. According to Stats SA, this increase highlights a strong improvement over 2022 and signals promising profitability for the sector moving forward. “While data for the second half of 2024 is still pending, early results indicate a promising trend for junior and emerging miners based on

The transition from illegal to legal mining is an important component and we look forward to seeing how this will be addressed in the amended MPRDA.

sector, including providing insight on aspects, such as the publication of the Artisanal and Small-S cale Mining Policy of 2022 (ASM), which is expected to be addressed in the amended MPRDA.

first-half performance.” Based on QFS data, this sector represented around 11% of total industry income in the first half of the year compared to

16  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | February 2025