Africa’s mining sector is vital for future economic development but the continent will have to prioritise power delivery if it wants to move forward and draw more investors. This was the message from former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair during a keynote address at the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town last week. “I am an African optimist,” said Blair to the 7000 delegates. “Even with sharp declines in commodity prices there are tremendous opportunities in Africa. There are adjustments and changes taking place all the time.” Blair said statistics indicated that China would this year put into infrastructure in Africa alone more than all the financial institutions together, indicating how important the continent remained for the Asian powerhouse. “There is a very definite paradigm shift between the outside world and Africa. We are moving away from countries in Africa being dependent to ones of partnership.” He said African governments should utilise these partnerships properly to secure more investment for their countries. He said access to electricity was the single prerequisite for success. Countries, said Blair, that managed to solve the power crisis would attract far more investors and would see mining thrive far more readily than those that continued to struggle. CAPTION Tony Blair during his keynote address at last week’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town. Photo: Mining Indaba 2015
