Modern Mining January 2023

MINING INDABA PREVIEW

Investing in African Mining Indaba 2023 preview African Mining Indaba 2023 has a thrilling line-up of new topics and a greater focus on emerging and junior miners, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Ahead of Mining Indaba, which takes place from 6 to 9 February 2023, Modern Mining caught up with Si mon Ford, portfolio director, Investing in African Mining Indaba, and Tom Quinn, head of content at Mining Indaba, to chat about some of the noteworthy events lined up.

Tom Quinn, head of content and Simon Ford, portfolio director Investing in African Mining Indaba.

“ W e saw a record-breaking Indaba in May 2022 that really set the tone for the industry and for post-pandemic events as we lead up to February 2023. We are seeing a lot of early commitment and have no doubt this will be a sell-out event once again. With com modity prices remaining strong, demand for critical minerals, battery metals and rare earths really accel erating, we can expect this to translate into another bumper turnout and we are really excited to be back to our regular dateline in February,” says Ford. The mining industry, adds Quinn, has demon strated a voracious appetite to particate at the 2023 edition of Investing in African Mining Indaba. “With less than 10 weeks to go, we are quickly running out of stand inventory and expect to be completely sold out before the festive season. To date, we have confirmed dozens of first-time exhibi tors and sponsors who will participate at next year’s event, including the likes of Gecamines, Debswana Mining Company, MSTA Canada, State Government of Victoria (Australia), and many more.” With the number of government leaders and heads of government at the last live show in 2022, where three heads of state, a prime minister, 48 min isters and 19 high commissioners and ambassadors attended the Indaba, the event organisers are confi dent that Mining Indaba 2023 will attract at least as many high-level delegates. “That Mining Indaba is given the utmost attention

and support by state officials affirms the importance of the event and that it is driving positive policy change across the continent,” says Ford. He adds that the theme for this year’s event, Unlocking African Mining Investment: Stability, Security, and Supply , captures the geopolitical shifts and economic disruptions being experienced, which are providing pressure points – as well as opportu nities – within African mining as global economies seek security of supply, especially for their own energy transitions, as well as the raw materials and precious metals to bolster their economic power. “As the world cautiously emerged from the global pandemic in 2022, we rightly focused on getting Africa’s myriad economies back on track. While ESG, from investment to operations and social licence to operate, will continue to underpin the values of Mining Indaba, we find ourselves entering a new chapter in both pan-African and global economies,” says Ford. New on the agenda Taking cognisance of industry feedback, event organisers have several new initiatives and pro grammes lined up for 2023, including the Explorers Showcase, the Junior MINE and the Official Government Leaders Programme. The Explorers Showcase highlights early-stage exploration projects and looks to stimulate much needed conversation between explorers and investors. “This ensures we can now claim to be driving investment into every stage of the mining production cycle through explorers, to juniors and to mid-tier miners and major mining companies. This is a great initiative, sponsored by BHP Billiton, which is our sponsor for the Explorers Showcase, and wants to align its own new initiative, BHP Xplorer, with Mining Indaba. The Explorers Showcase is supported by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, South Africa, and AfriMine young leaders Network helping to support exploration drives. To complement this, we will run the Junior ESG Forum, our ESG Awards,

African Mining Indaba 2023 has a thrilling line-up of new topics.

46  MODERN MINING  January 2023