Mizanbuqye and Tanzania the countries to watch

Africa has some big challenges to overcome in the mining sector – least of them the current low commodity prices. “There is a lot of wait and see going on at the moment,” says Paul Runge, managing director of Africa Project Access. “Africa has tremendous mining and resources potential, but many of these resources are stranded and need major investments in transport and infrastructure to move them out. The unfavourable economic situation and the lack of clarity with regard to the bureaucratic environments in which they are operating do not help the situation much.” According to Runge, this will see fewer projects taking off in the coming months. According to Duncan Bonnett of Whitehouse & Associates, there are some big mining challenges at present in Central Africa. “There are major iron ore deposits in this region all the way up to Sierra Leone and Senegal but there is no infrastructure. We don’t expect to see this take off anytime soon. At the same time regional politics are at play and that is adding to the hesitation to become involved in this mining.” On the other hand, Bonnett said, there were several projects expected to take off in the Congolese copper industry which was doing quite well despite the drop in the copper price. “There are one or two big projects expected to come on line in the next few months. The biggest challenge here remains the lack of power, especially for the smaller smelters in the region for whom it is just not cost effective to run diesel operations. The bigger smelters need at least twice the amount of electricity they are currently receiving.” Bonnett said output could be increased by at least 50-100% if the power issues were addressed. Both Bonnett and Runge say the countries to watch over the next few years remain Mozambique and Tanzania. “It’s not just the large gas finds and the coals, but an array of other minerals, including large resources of graphite,” said Bonnett. Both experts agree that if African governments want to boost mining they will have to find ways of improvinginfrastructure, delivering the necessary power supply and reforming mining codes to attract investors.