As Mining Indaba begins, we are constantly reminded of the core strengths of community – this is demonstrated by the gathering of miners, brokers, investors and journalists, all of whom momentarily put aside their rivalry and enjoy each other’s company as critical stakeholders in the mining industry.
Though Mining Indaba is associated with corporate speeches, presentations, and in some cases the numerous drinks parties which labelled as networking events, nothing sums up the community ethos of this hectic week more than the site visits to mines across Africa that top and tail the conference itself.
The site visit to Pan African’s Evander Gold Mine on Friday 2 February fully encapsulated this – some of London’s highest profile mining analysts, investors from global investment funds, and financial media, all descended more than a mile under the surface of the earth to see what a typical day job entails for those who work at 8 Shaft Pillar at Evander, which really brought home just how extraordinary this industry is. For those outside of the industry, mining is seen as a dirty, dangerous, and environmentally destructive business. The broader reality is that Evander, and hundreds like it across the planet, bring jobs, purpose, community, sustainability, critical metals to a rapidly changing world, and wealth to the local community. Evander has done precisely that across several generations (Evander has been producing gold since 1958), and will continue to do so for at least another 40 years.
Having hosted another successful and well attended annual Diggers vs Dealers cricket match, the tenth in a row and where the brand-new cricket equipment is donated to a local under privileged school, Bobby Morse, Buchanan’s Senior Partner and Head of Mining, and Oonagh Reidy, Associate Director, are looking forward to engaging with the Indaba community. Buchanan clients attending Indaba include Sovereign Metals, which is developing the largest rutile discovery and second largest flake graphite deposit globally; Capital Ltd, the global mining services company with a significant African heritage; Kodal Minerals, currently building a leading lithium mine in West Africa; Hummingbird Resources, which has just brought its second gold mine into production in Guinea; and Predictive Discovery, who has made the largest gold discovery in West Africa for over a decade.
The Buchanan team looks forward to what will be a very busy yet engaging week in Cape Town!