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January 2015
MODERN MINING
31
MINING INDABA
PREVIEW
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three prime projects in the Southern African
region – the Platreef mine near Mokopane,
the Kamoa copper project near Kolwezi in
Katanga in the DRC and the redevelopment
of the historic Kipushi copper-zinc mine, also
in Katanga. Friedland has presented on these
projects at previous Mining Indabas but he
is a gifted speaker who talks up the projects
in a most engaging way and who is bound to
pull a huge audience. The Platreef project,
incidentally, has received some bad over-
seas press recently, leading Ivanhoe to accuse
the publication concerned of “false allega-
tions and misrepresentations, and gratuitous
exaggerations”.
The opening address at the Mining Indaba
is due to given by South Africa’s Minister of
Mineral Resources, Ngoako Ramatlhodi. Only
appointed to his current position in May last
year, one of his tasks at the Mining Indaba will
be to reassure delegates that South Africa’s min-
ing industry still represents a good investment
opportunity, notwithstanding the fractious
labour relations that characterise it and the
problems presented by Eskom’s generating
capacity shortfall.
The Mining Indaba, of course, is more than
just a conference and there will be well over
200 companies exhibiting their products and
services in the exhibition area of the event.
They will include not only mining companies
but also suppliers of mining equipment (among
them Komatsu, Sandvik, FLSmidth, Bell and
Caterpillar), consulting engineers and EPCM
contractors (for example, WorleyParsons, DRA,
SENET, Sedgman and AMEC Foster Wheeler)
and mining, civil and drilling contractors (such
as Master Drilling, Murray & Roberts, Major
Drilling, Raubex, Aveng Mining and WBHO).
The Mining Indaba has been a spectacular
success since being established in the 1990s,
showing growth in just about every year since
then. The new owners have taken over at an
unpropitious time but seem confident that this
year’s event will measure up to its predeces-
sors, saying that it remains “better positioned
than ever to deliver an unparalleled deal-mak-
ing and discovery platform for global investors
and mining companies.” The list of speakers
and exhibitors suggests that this confidence is
well founded and that this year’s Mining Indaba
will be highly successful, reaffirming its status
as the world’s third largest mining conference
and Africa’s largest mining event.