The African continent is richly endowed in natural resources, with platinum, silver, gold, copper and cobalt some of our best-known commodities. We’re also abundant in green commodities, such as uranium, phosphate and vanadium. As a result, the mining sector is a key contributor to the continent’s economies, responsible for a significant portion of Africa’s exports, fiscal revenues, and, of course, employment.
Yet in almost equal proportion, we’re a continent rich in problems – which, in turn, impacts the same sector we so heavily rely on – mining.
Macro-economic challenges
In South Africa, load shedding has dealt the sector a sharp blow, with hours of downtime and wasted capacity, while ongoing transport challenges see mines struggling to get ore and other materials down the supply chain. Illegal mining is currently plaguing the industry: by way of example, in the last quarter of 2022, South Africa’s Sibanye mining operations saw almost 2000 serious crime incidents, costing around R40 million.
For more information, please visit https://www.ferroalloynet.com/news/more_resources_more_problems_understanding_the_african_mining_landscape.html
