Modern Mining May 2025

FINANCE

investment landscape, and miners operating here must carefully examine the fundamentals before committing capital. In terms of immediate threats, nothing entirely new hasn’t already been on the radar, but tensions in the eastern DRC, particularly along the Rwandan border, remain a concern. That situation has been simmering for some time, and while it hasn’t yet disrupted mining operations at scale, investors and operators need to keep an eye on it. Mining is a long-term game, and geopolitics can shift quickly. What is critical is that miners take a disciplined approach to geopolitical risk management, ensuring they have a solid understanding of the markets they are entering, the governments they’re dealing with, and global factors that could impact their investment decisions. It seems that the mining sector is gearing up for M&A’s. What are some of the drivers and which commodities do you see as being ripe for the picking? Mining M&A is gaining momentum because miners have cash, and they need to put it to work. Strong commodity prices have left producers with solid balance sheets. First, they pay down debt. Then, they return capital to shareholders. After that, acquisitions become the next logical step. Right now, the big targets are junior miners with feasibility studies in place but no capital to develop their projects. It’s not about buying and producing mines; it’s about picking up de-risked, construction ready assets. The real focus is on copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and lithium, the metals driving electrification and battery storage.

layered into the financing agreements. In a project like that, you get triple-layered governance regulatory requirements from the stock exchange, the host country, and the financial institutions providing the capital. That’s how you ensure ESG isn’t just a compliance box-ticking exercise but something that’s actively shaping how a mine is developed and operated. The challenge is with privately owned mining companies. Unlike listed entities, they don’t have external investors or regulators enforcing sustainability commitments. Some private miners are genuinely committed to ESG, but others are not operating at the same level as their listed counterparts. That’s where the gap still exists, and it will need to be addressed as ESG expectations continue to evolve. How are geopolitical factors influencing mining on the African continent? Any new threats that you would like to flag? Geopolitical risk is a major factor in mining, and every investor, financier, and mining company needs to consider it before making any long-term commitments. It plays out at two levels, global and regional, and both are shaping how capital is deployed in the sector. At a global level, shifts are happening that directly affect mining investment decisions. The Russia-Ukraine war is still playing out and US-China tensions are escalating. These factors influence everything from trade policies to capital flows, which impacts where miners choose to invest and where financiers are willing to back projects. On a regional level, the picture is more complex. Africa has always been a high-risk, high-reward

Mining is at the heart of the green energy transition, responsible finance makes it possible.

18  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | MAY 2025