Africa-Press – South-Africa. The scramble for green metals and minerals has begun as the world wakes up to the critical role of mining for the energy transition, but Anglo American says South Africa risks losing its head start as a key mining destination as corruption, energy, as well as logistics challenges reach “crisis point”.
As the global move to decarbonise economies gains momentum, the “gears have shifted”, and the scramble to secure the required metals and minerals is now a more mainstream political and commercial reality for many countries, Anglo CEO, Duncan Wanblad, said in an opening keynote address at the Investing in African Mining Indaba which kicked off in Cape Town on Monday.
Africa’s abundant mineral resources present a golden opportunity for these countries to take their supply of metals and minerals to an entirely new level and use that economic momentum as a catalyst to attract investment in clean energy, driving accelerated economic growth.
While South Africa starts with an “enviable and sizeable advantage”, it is “fast allowing its head start to be badly eroded, risking its competitive advantage across southern Africa”, he said.
“Let me be clear; I believe that this can be fixed,” he said, noting corruption, energy, and logistics are three critical areas that must be urgently addressed. “Were these to be fixed, they would dramatically improve the economy of South Africa and its prospects,” said Wanblad.
“Just as the wheels of government turned at the last moment to liberalise the electricity generation sector, so they need to turn again to address the three scourges that are holding back progress. We would all rather that the wheels are turned before crisis point is reached, but we are already at that point.”
He said these scourges are not unique to mining and impact the entire economy as investment confidence retreats. “That is why we need the business community as a whole to urgently and pragmatically adopt the partnership mindset to allow South Africa to once again turn in the right direction.”
The mining industry, and business, more broadly, can play an instrumental role in unlocking value and unblocking the constraints that hinder economic progress in South Africa and other countries like it, he said.
“We do it every day at a local level, in partnership with local municipal authorities that experience significant constraints on service delivery, and now we need to step up to a different scale,” Wanblad said.
“We are deeply committed to helping build that resilience and to set up South Africa for success through [partnerships]. We cannot afford to walk at a leisurely pace: We must all run, and we must run together.”
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