The government has set in motion a plan that will turn South Africa into a mining exploration site, boosting projects and creating economic momentum.Speaking at the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town last week, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, said this was a critical step to attracting foreign investors. “We want to see more exploration taking place,” he said. “The intention is to grow the national target from below 5% to respectable levels within the next few years. Government has, therefore, invested in the integrated and multi-disciplinary geoscience mapping programme.”Mantashe said that early results were already uncovering previously undefined geological features that could host significant mineral wealth for the country.“For example, recently defined extensions of greenstone belts that may host hydrothermal mineral deposits and alkaline complexes. These may yet prove to host rare earth elements and other critical mineral resources.”He said the Council for Geoscience (C G S) ha d also developed a data policy so that key data and knowledge generated throughout this programme would be made available to the public through the CGS data portal.Furthermore, said Mantashe, a decision had been taken to relax transformation regulation in the exploration sector.“We need black economic empowerment (BEE), but for all exploration we are not imposing any of the requirements for BEE. We realise that at the level of exploration, major companies must not be restricted in any way.”He said this had already resulted in an increase in exploration with figures doubling in the past year. “Understandably, we are coming from a low base, but we are doing everything we can to accommodate more exploration.”According to Mantashe mining remained at the heart of the South African economy. “The foundation for growth is a solid mining sector. We have to work hard to solidify this sector now.”In 2019 the mining sector contributed R360.9 billion to GDP and generated R94.7 billion to fixed investment. The sector contributed a total of R348.2 billion to overall export sales.
INSERT: We realise that at the level of exploration, major companies must not be restricted in any way.– Gwede Mantashe
