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A new vision for mining It is a no brainer that mining remains crucial to South Africa’s continued success. However, all stakeholders need to collaborate in order to take the industry forward in a sustainable manner, argues KPMG. By Gerhard Hope
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CCORDING TO KPMG, collaborating towards a sustainable share vision of the future is the major theme for the mining industry in 2014. The company revealed this outlook in a special panel discussion at the Ming Indaba in Cape Town. “For me it is a no brainer. Mining remains crucial for South Africa’s success. My biggest hope is really for communities, government, investors, companies and all stakeholders to start to work together. We have to take this industry forward in a sustainable way, and no one can do it without the other. Our
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theme for this year is collaborating towards a sustainable shared vision of the future, for change in South Africa, and for change specifically in the mining industry,” says Carel Smit, director: head of markets, energy and natural resources – Africa. However, the current labour unrest poses a severe constraint. “It is the perception of our industry caused by these strikes,” notes Smit. “Otherwise we lose our global competitiveness. As we know, investors have choices as to where they want to invest. Labour is therefore a big issue that still needs to be resolved.”
The latest production figures from the mining industry paint a gloomy picture up to the end of 2012. The platinum sector has been the worst affected, down 13%, with the gold sector close on its heels at 12% down yearon-year. “It is not good for our economy,” Smit says simply.
Government involvement “What is very positive for me is that the government is getting involved in these talks There is a strong need to shape an African development plan for mining