The 2015 Joburg Indaba saw the South African mining industry once again gather together to discuss, debate and decide on a way forward in an industry beset by challenges but underpinned by the hope for a more sustainable future.
Hosted at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg, hundreds of delegates from across the industry began their day with an opening keynote address by none other than National Planning Commission minister, Trevor Manuel.
In his address, Manuel emphasised that throughout history the mining sector is deeply engrained in the South African economy and that mining is in our DNA. “We owe it to ourselves to have honest discussions about this industry,” said Manuel.
He further imparted the necessity of the National Development Plan, which was built to anticipate issues that would impact the mining sector. He said that we need to focus on the positives, think of long-term visions, and work with government to achieve this.
Just before delegates broke for lunch, a panel was hosted entitled ‘A Boardroom Perspective’ in which Barend Petersen, executive chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines joined the discussion.
In it, Barend said that we need to increase our efforts to have true dialogue in the context of our global economy. He emphasised that mining is a long-term industry and that we need to recognise its complexities.
Barend also touched on the issue of trust as a key, albeit lacking, aspect of dialogue between stakeholders. “We need to engage our stakeholders to decrease the trust deficit. Trust has been eroded to the point where meaningful constructive dialogue has become a challenge. We need to rekindle the possibility of going forward,” said Barend.
After lunch, delegates gathered in the main hall for a panel called “The Investor: Let the horse speak for itself”, which tackled the issue of how investors are currently viewing Africa and South Africa.
Jim Rutherford, Non-Executive Director of Anglo American plc and former mining analyst who chaired the panel, said that there appears to be little optimism for this industry and highlighted the fact that globally this is the 5th year of underperformance for the sector. In South Africa, it is the 6th, which further highlights the need to forge a new way forward for mining.
The final session of the day saw five prominent CEOs sit down and discuss how mining companies are measuring up in the context of today’s challenges. Our CEO of our Kumba Iron Ore business, Norman Mbazima, joined the panel and touched on the necessity of modernisation.
He said, “We must make money for all our stakeholders, not just shareholders. And to do this we have to modernise this industry in terms of what all stakeholders need.”
Norman stated that modernisation is an imperative in order for our industry to survive, grow and generate value for all stakeholders. It goes way beyond mechanisation to generate this kind of multi-stakeholder value.
All-in-all, the first day of the 2015 Joburg Indaba ignited a healthy dose of debate on issues like modernisation, investor confidence, leadership, and stakeholder relations.
To illustrate the sentiment of the day, Trevor Manuel put it best when he said, “We need to build leadership and provide direction. Let’s solve our differences through discussion, let’s celebrate the differences between us. I plead for collective leadership across the mining sector.”
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