Modern Mining January 2020

COMMENT

New editor for Modern Mining

T his will be the last time that I write my edi- torial column for Modern Mining as – having reached the (relatively) ripe old age of 72! – I will be retiring at the end of January after a 15-year stint as editor of the magazine, which was founded in 2005. I edited the first issue in March of that year, having joined Crown Publications ( Modern Mining ’s parent) the previous month after spending the preceding five years editing another well-known magazine devoted to the African min- ing scene. Looking back, I think I can say that I’ve enjoyed just about every minute of the 20 years that I’ve now been writing about the mining industry. When I started, I knew Africa up to roughly the Zambezi River but since then I’ve travelled widely on the continent, seeing places that are well off the normal tourist routes and pretty much filling three passports in the process. I suppose the country I’ve visited most – per- haps not unsurprisingly, given its proximity to South Africa – is Botswana but others that I’ve travelled to multiple times include all South Africa’s neighbour- ing states, particularly Zimbabwe; Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso in West Africa; Tanzania in East Africa; and, of course, Zambia and the DRC. Among the highlights over the years were two trips to projects in Tanzania bordering the Serengeti, which gave me the opportunity to see this world- renowned wildlife area, and a visit to the Dikulushi copper mine in northern Katanga in the DRC in its early days of development. Accessing Dikulushi back then involved flying to Nchelenge in Zambia’s remote Luapula province and then crossing Lake Mweru – which is around 50 km wide – in a motor boat to get to the DRC. Also memorable were a stay of several days at the tanzanite mine in northern Tanzania, which has Mt Kilimanjaro on its doorstep, and a trip to the Bisie tin mine, which is located in a rain-forested area of spectacular beauty in the DRC’s North Kivu province. Iconic mines I was able to visit included Obuasi in Ghana, a legendary gold mine with a more than 100-year history behind it which is today owned by AngloGold Ashanti and is currently being rede- veloped (see page 14); the Williamson mine in Tanzania, in its heyday the world’s most famous diamond mine; and two of the pillars of the Zambian Copperbelt, Mufulira and Nkana, which both started

up in the early 1930s and which are still going strong today. Along the way, I’ve made many friends, both in South Africa and further afield, and I would like to take this opportunity of thanking them all for their support and assistance. The warm hospitality I received at remote mines and exploration sites over the years was incredible and leaves me with very warm memories of the mining industry. My thanks must also go to the many people in public and investor relations who have smoothed my way during my time as a mining journalist. There are too many of them to name individually but they know who they are and I’m happy to say that I now count many of them as personal friends. Enough of my recollections! My successor as editor of Modern Mining will be my good friend and colleague Munesu Shoko. In many ways, he is the perfect person to replace me, as he is already the editor of Modern Mining ’s sister magazine, Modern Quarrying , which covers an industry with strong ties – and similarities – to mining.

Munesu hails from Zimbabwe. He started his media career as a broadcast journalist in that coun- try in 2005 but has worked in the field of business-to-business (B2B) publishing since moving to South Africa in 2010. He is vastly experienced having contributed to or edited titles dealing with not only mining and quarrying but also energy, civil engineering and building. I should also mention that he is extremely well travelled globally. He has attended machine launches in a number of countries, includ-

ing Sweden and Germany, and is also no stranger to industry-leading events devoted to construction and mining machinery such as bauma in Munich, Germany, and CONEXPO in Las Vegas in the US. He will soon, of course, be attending the Mining Indaba in Cape Town and many of you will have a chance to meet him there. I won’t steal his thunder but Munesu has great plans to grow what is already a successful title. I wish him well and have no doubt that he has a great career in mining journalism ahead of him. Arthur Tassell

Munesu Shoko

Editor Arthur Tassell e-mail: mining@crown.co.za Advertising Manager Bennie Venter e-mail: benniev@crown.co.za

Design & Layout Darryl James Publisher Karen Grant Deputy Publisher Wilhelm du Plessis

Circulation Brenda Grossmann Published monthly by: Crown Publications (Pty) Ltd P O Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008 Tel: (+27 11) 622-4770 Fax: (+27 11) 615-6108 e-mail: mining@crown.co.za www.modernminingmagazine.co.za

Printed by: Tandym Print

Average circulation July-September 2019 – 5203

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

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January 2020  MODERN MINING  3