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.
Employees of diamond mining company De Beers are set to go on strike on Friday after wage talks broke down on Wednesday. The workers follow tens of thousands of others in South Africa’s coal, metals and petroleum industries who have been on strike for weeks.
The strikes come at a time when the country’s mining output is slowing and new investment in the industry is drying up amid uncertainty about state ownership, taxation, an ever-changing regulatory environment and corruption. A recent ranking of top global mining investment destinations that puts Alberta at the top relegates South Africa to number 63 alongside Zimbabwe, Guatamala and Venezuela.
Guardian Online reports the head of industrial relations at De Beers said the company had increased its offer to 7% with an additional cash payment. The diamond producer had initially offered a 5% increase while the union wanted 15%.
Reuters reports since 2008, miners, factory workers, and steel workers in South Africa have won pay rises averaging more than 10 percent a year, making themselves more expensive than other emerging market workforces.
BusinessLive reports captains of industry have been warning that investors, the traditional suppliers of risk capital to this industry, are getting cold feet, and that SA risks cutting the mining output that contributes 8.8% of the economy because of calls from within the ruling party for a state takeover of the industry.
The Fraser Institute study that assesses how mineral endowments and public policy factors affect exploration investment in 79 jurisdictions shows Africa’s average score of 40.5 has not improved in the last four years, but Botswana continues to perform strongly and Namibia has made good progress. The Canadian province of Alberta tops the tables with a score of 90.4, followed by Nevada in the US and Saskatchewan.
Comments
JoburgAdvocacyGroup
De Beers’ earning are up by 55%, but it won’t consider more than a 7% increase in wages for miners? That doesn’t jive with us, especially as domestic electricity tariffs have just gone up by between 22% and 35%, and as ordinary working people are finding themselves themselves under increasing pressure due to hefty increases in fuel costs and food prices.