Modern Mining October 2019

beyond a dependence on their min- eral resources and move towards being ‘knowledge-rich’ economies. Boubacar Bocoum in his address to delegates dealt with the key driv- ers for a compliant mineral rent collection administration. He noted that minerals represented about 70 % of Africa’s total exports and 20 % of its GDP but questioned whether the continent was getting the returns it should from its min- erals endowment, given that many African countries did not have ade- quate systems and capacities to drive compliant minerals payments. In his presentation on junior mining, Charles Siwawa, CEO of the Botswana Chamber of Mines, pointed out that many mineral

described it as a “unique, intimate, African confer- ence” offering in-depth networking and a line-up of high-quality speakers. He noted that the 2018 Fraser Institute study had rated Africa the second least attractive continent for investment and said the Summit way had gone some way towards pro- posing solutions that would make the continent more investor friendly. The next Africa Mining Summit, the sixth in the series, will be held on 2 and 3 September 2020, with the venue again being Gaborone.  Photos by Arthur Tassell

deposits discovered in recent years were often small in scale and of inferior grade and were not regarded as attractive by the large mining houses. “The junior mining companies are suitable for this type of mineral exploitation with their abilities to reduce overheads and focus on the technical por- tion of the mining value chain,” he said. “Indeed, there is scope to suggest that the legislative authori- ties should look at provision for applying differential operational structures in the running of junior mining companies as opposed to large corporates without compromising safety and environmental consid-

The ‘match-making’ session at the Africa Mining Summit.

James Campbell with (from left) Roger Key of Kalahari Key Mineral Exploration Company; Dr Alkaly Yamoussa Bangoura, Advisor to the President on Mining affairs, Ministry of Mines & Geology, Guinea; and Simon Tuma-Waku, President of the DRC Chamber of Mines.

erations. This will to a large extent reduce overheads and make opera- tions more sustainable.” Although the Summit did not focus to any great extent on specific min- ing projects, several junior miners provided updates on their activities. Speakers included Cedric Sam, GM of Mupane gold mine, Botswana’s only active gold mine; Vivian Stuart- Williams of Deep South Resources, holder of the large tonnage Haib copper project in southern Namibia; Nchakha Moloi of Motjoli Resources, a junior resource company founded in 2004 with a significant project footprint in South Africa; and Dr Tony Harwood of Montero Mining, which is exploring for lithium in Namibia. The conference was very ably chaired by James Campbell, MD of diamond explorer Botswana Diamonds (which is active not only in Botswana but also South Africa where it is focused on its Thorny River project in Limpopo Province). Summing up the Summit, he

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