According to SRK Consulting South Africa MD Andrew van Zyl, “Exploration in South Africa was historically conducted by large, well-resourced mining houses – but this role has now been left to junior companies. Unfortunately, South Africa is currently ill-equipped to support and nurture the smaller exploration and mining companies.”
“Rainbow Nation” is the nickname popularised by Nelson Mandela in his first month in office to describe multiculturalism in post-apartheid South Africa, but the rainbow metaphor is also becoming of the country’s mineral richness, a colourful mix of gold, diamonds, platinum, coal, vanadium, zinc, manganese, copper, chrome and titanium. Unfortunately, over the past year, South Africa has experienced severe and more frequent power blackouts that have shadowed the industry’s growth. Even though the South African mining industry reached a remarkable milestone in 2021 as the mineral output value reached 1 trillion Rands (R) for the first time, according to the Minerals Council, the sector has incurred multiple losses, caused by domestic hurdles – power, transport infrastructure constraints, and a wage strike.
80% of South Africa’s power comes from coal. This June, the country reached its worst-ever stage of load shedding, measured as level six out of eight, which translates to several hours of power cuts every day. The national utility company, Eskom, has allowed for 6,000 megawatts (MW) to be cut to avoid the collapse of the national grid, following multiple breakdowns at the outdated and reportedly mismanaged power facilities.
