Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Mining Weekly reports De Beers is going all out to create 5,000 non-mining jobs in Namaqualand over the next five years as it exits a region on the South African west coast where it has mined for the past 90 years.
Projects include a wind farm, abalone culturing for export to China where it is a highly prized delicacy, a prison warden training facility and a joint venture with sister company Anglogold for undersea gold mining. The company has recently come under fire over plans to sell the properties including two towns to a much smaller outfit that will have to take responsibility for rehabilitation over a 970 square km area pockmarked by open pits.
Mining Weekly reports De Beers Northern Cape Heritage GM Christie Pisane, who spoke to a visiting media contingent, said that since opening an enterprise development hub in August, R14 million ($1.7 million) has been granted in low-interest loans to non-mining enterprises that have already created 400 jobs.
MINING.com reported last week the local community has lodged a land claim against De Beers and also wants the sale stopped. South Africa’s department of Mineral Resources is expected to make a decision on the approval of an amended environmental management programme and the transfer of mining rights within weeks.
