Engineering & Mining Journal

MAR 2014

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vention exhibition hall, and was attracting brisk traffic. He admitted the country still has little by way of actual mining taking place, but was drawing a growing number of explorers. "We don't have big operations yet but have a very good junior explorer network devel- oping," Okorie said. "Most current activity is still being done by artisanal operators but we are looking to draw in formal miners." The government was aware that it had formidable challenges to overcome, such as rampant corruption and lack of electric- ity. Nigeria has, however, recently sold off its entire power chain—generation, trans- mission and distribution to a host of inter- national consortia. This, the country hopes, will draw in much needed investment to the electricity sector and lead to increased power supply. Okorie added that Nigeria would become a regular feature at the Indaba: "We look at the Indaba as an African event. And we are first and foremost an African country. We have to be here." For Nigeria to get ahead though, it will have to show that it means to push through with reforms—and tackle corruption. It also faces tough competition from other countries in the region just as hungry for mining related investment. "Nigeria is unlikely to see the kind of interest that others have in the region," said Roddy Barclay, senior analyst for West Africa at Control Risks (CR), a global risk analysis organization. CR is leaning quite heavily on the mining industry to expand its African business, and has become a regular at the Indaba. "The 'Africa rising' narrative has be- come the lead story for the Indaba and we are now seeing some of the historic barriers of doing business being broken down, par- ticularly over the past 10 years," he said. Barclay pointed out that the cycle of debilitating conflict is on the decline, in spite of several stand-out wars that have grabbed media attention, such as those in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. "It's important to see the woods for the trees. African economies have developed greater resilience and are better able to weather the ups and downs of international economic events. There are now 18 func- tioning democracies, whereas there were only three a quarter of a century ago, he said." That said, it's clear that African coun- tries are looking to gain more from their mineral resources than they did in the past. Niger is mired in a dragging dispute with French energy producer Areva over uranium royalties; in Tanzania, local communities have tried to overrun operations and scoop handfuls of gold-bearing ore, only to be beaten back by security personnel. The Oxfam-led "alternative Indaba" and a handful of protestors who appeared briefly outside the convention center until they were driven away by the baking sun were hardly needed as a reminder to atten- dees that the continent was changing. At almost every turn speakers addressed the touchy subject, to the point it became a theme that threaded its way throughout the event. Yes, the Mining Indaba has raised awareness that community engagement is critical, said Terry Heymann, managing director for development at the World Gold Council, who participated in a discussion on the topic. "Our panel discussion on respon- sible gold mining and value distribution in Africa highlighted the need for engagement and that the industry will be more impactful when viewed from a shared value point of view. There has been a wide range of simi- lar discussions from like-minded organiza- tions and industry stakeholders." So prominent has the topic of social engagement become that some noted that the conference had taken a marked turn toward the subject, which reflected the industry's increased awareness of its grow- ing importance. "It is also interesting to see the move away from technical project presentations at the conference, toward more vital, broader discussions about how Africa's players need to collaborate more effective- ly in search of shared value in developing the minerals industry," said SRK Con- sulting Chairman Roger Dixon. Discussion was more than industry chest- beating—it also provided the industry with a platform to show what they had achieved to make life better for people around them. "Mines do a lot of good, but are seldom pro-actively telling the world about it," Dixon said. "A few speakers have already made the point that the sector does not 'sell itself' very well—and so this negative image lingers on, fostered by the occasion- al well-publicized adverse story." As is characteristic of an industry jam- boree of this scale, service providers use the Indaba to display their products to potential clients. It's mostly bean counters and geol- ogists who attend, there's not a whole lot of physical hardware on display—a lone mobile drilling rig in the entrance way to the convention centre was as good as it got. This does not mean, however, that sup- pliers were left out in the cold. Many took advantage of the Indaba's matchmaking service, huddling over coffee in a booth, giving their best gameface for whoever they found themselves sitting opposite. SkyVision, a communications provider specializing in off-grid sites for nongovern- mental organizations, contractors and so on, was hoping to raise its profile in the mining industry. "It's our first time here, and it's been good. We've had a lot of inter- est in our product," said Ofer Farkash, product line manager for SkyVision. "I'm sure we will be back next year." As the Indaba drew to a close, it attract- ed the expected criticism of Cape Town as a venue and from many, the price tag of gaining access to the event. The likelihood of the Indaba moving to Johannesburg, or as some would suggest—Nairobi—are slim. In time the Indaba will probably have to endure competition from other would-be mining jamborees, but for now at least, it remains the go to event for anyone who has skin in the African mining game. MARCH 2014 • E&MJ; 45 www.e-mj.com M I N I N G I N D A B A 2 0 1 4 China's looming presence dominated the discussions around the future of mineral demand from Africa. EMJ_pg42-45_EMJ_pg42-45 2/28/14 9:17 AM Page 45

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