Page 4 - Issue 3 2023

INDUSTRY NEWS

President, Minister address mining

conference with mixed messages

Both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe

addressed the recent Mining Indaba 2023 conference held in Cape Town. The two men
touched on similar topics, but both presented differing views.

This is a summary of two reports submitted by a team from legal firm Webber Wentzel.

he keynote welcome speech
by Minister of Mineral
TResources and Energy,
Gwede Mantashe, at Mining
Indaba 2023 was a straightforward
acknowledgement of some of the
current issues facing the mining
industry. In particular, he made
positive points on embedded
generation and safety. However,
the Minister did not address critical
issues or set new targets. Rather, he
invited investors to find solutions to
problems such as load shedding, the Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe President Cyril Ramaphosa
very opposite of what delegates to
the conference were hoping to hear. power from neighbouring states were short on detail.
The President, however, acknowledged that to realise South Africa’s and its mining
Energy sector’s growth objectives, the achievement of a secure supply of electricity is at the
The Minister failed to indicate how top of his list of actions. The President referred to the National Action Plan to improve
the South African government performance of the country’s existing power stations: to add new generation capacity
intends to tackle the country’s power to the grid as quickly as possible, and to import 100 MW more electricity capacity
shortage in the long term. Although from neighbouring countries than the current 300 MW being imported. He referred
he commented on the deregulation to the success of the renewable energy IPP procurement programme and the 25 new
of embedded generation, including projects that will soon be proceeding to construction. He referred to the removal of
lifting the cap, he did not address the licensing threshold, enabling new generation by private power producers, and the
the ongoing difficulties that mining rate at which the mining sector is generating its own electricity.
companies are facing in obtaining
other permits and accessing Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
transmission infrastructure. He did At a time when financiers and investors are more heavily scrutinising, and needing
not give direction or make pledges of reassurance on, issues around ESG, particularly in respect of business and human
support to help advance embedded rights and responsible sourcing, the Minister missed an opportunity to highlight what
generation solutions or speak to the developments South Africa is needing. Improving investor confidence in mining in
broader issue of grid capacity. The Africa requires addressing these softer, non-financial issues which are placed highly on
Minister’s proposed solutions around funders’ agendas. The Minister did not mention key actions and developments relating
improving the energy availability to the Just Energy Transition (given South Africa’s heavy reliance on coal for energy),
factor of Eskom’s plants, improving capacity building and skills transfer for the future, and maintaining good relationships
skills capacity at Eskom, procuring with communities, thus missing the opportunity to show investors that South Africa is
emergency power, and procuring taking ESG issues seriously.

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