Modern Mining January 2024

MINING INDABA PREVIEW

Reflections on mining in Africa, and its bold new future

Considering the theme of the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2024 – Embracing the power of positive disruption: A bold new fu ture for African mining – the term ‘disruption’ has come to describe a raft of rapid technological and other advancements that have significantly changed the way we do business today.

“ P erhaps not many mining commentators would suggest that the traditional mining sector would embrace disruption, but there have indeed been various forms of disrup tion in the industry – several of them positive,” said Andrew van Zyl, Managing Director, SRK Consulting (South Africa). Van Zyl pointed out that disruption is invariably associated with risk, and most stakeholders in min ing spend a good portion of their days working to avoid or mitigate such risk. “This is as it should be,” he said. “As engineers and scientists providing technical solutions to the sector, we must be as skilled in developing innova tive answers as we are in helping clients apply them practically and responsibly.” SRK Consulting will be celebrating its 50th year in business as it attends and exhibits at the Indaba in Cape Town, and there is much to be discussed at the forum that resonates with the company’s history and vision. Recognising context He highlighted that a fundamental aspect of mining’s evolution in recent decades has been the growing recognition of its context – within the natural environ ment, within the host communities where it operates, and within society in general.

Andrew van Zyl, Managing Director of SRK Consulting (South Africa).

“These themes have been well ventilated in previous years of the Indaba and deserve ongoing attention,” he said. “Indeed, the global effort to slow the pace of climate change is affecting not just the way we mine, but what we mine.” Leading mining companies have committed to reduce carbon emissions as part of their role as good corporate citizens, he continued. This has led to initiatives to decarbonise mine sites, and to meet ambitious sustainability targets; the testing of a hydrogen-powered mining truck in South Africa typi fies the commitment of industry to innovate and test possible solutions. “Forging a lower carbon future has also meant a renewed focus on renewable energy, and the explosion in battery technology to store this energy has sent ripples into commodity markets and min ing itself,” said Van Zyl. “The search for minerals critical to the manufacture of batteries has affected commodity prices, exploration programmes and production plans. As battery technologies compete for acceptance, the market value of the minerals required has become unusually volatile. This in turn has complicated the task of project valuation and planning.” Responsible sourcing For Africa, the search for battery minerals is gener ally good news. The continent is a well-established producer of some of the key minerals required by the energy transition – such as copper and cobalt.

A focus on responsible sourcing in Africa’s battery mineral revolution, SRK Consulting explores the ethical supply chain and collaboration with the European initiative RE-SOURCE.

46  MODERN MINING  January 2024