Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter on Wednesday outlined the important contribution made by the South African mining sector, the vast potential of the skills that still exists within the industry and the steps that are needed to enable the country’s mining sector to realise its full potential.

He was speaking at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, being held in Toronto this week.

In his presentation, titled ‘Enabling the Renaissance of the South African mining sector’, Baxter argued that the country’s economic and transformational mining potential was vast and that, even in the absence of a greenfield exploration boom, mining investment in the country could almost double in the next four years if the country was to return to the top quartile of the most attractive mining investment destinations.

Additionally, he highlighted that, given the industry’s commitment to real transformation, this would also materially advance the entire country’s transformation agenda.

Referring to the most recent Fraser Institute perceptions survey, Baxter said, “the significant improvement from being close to the bottom decile of the Policy Perception Index league table at 81 out of 91 jurisdictions, to about two-thirds of the way down at fifty-sixth out of 83 jurisdictions can be attributed to the early impacts of the shift of political leadership of the country and of the industry in 2018 of President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe”.

Baxter also outlined the Minerals Council’s view on the steps needed to restore the South African mining sector’s position to the top quartile of the most competitive mining jurisdictions.

Some of these steps include developing a social pact for competitiveness, growth and transformation between key stakeholders, while also re-establishing trust with the global mining and investment community.

Additionally, the council believes a significant crackdown on corruption and unethical leadership is required.

A significant improvement in licensing systems and turnaround times, while also creating a stable, predictable and competitive policy, regulatory and operating environment will encourage long-term investment in mining and will be key to restoring the sector’s competitiveness.

Resolving infrastructure constraints and uncompetitive costs, developing a strategy to encourage an exploration boom and developing national strategies for each commodity would also play a role, Baxter said.