Could you provide a brief overview of the Minerals Council’s mission, its long history and how it has evolved in recent years?
The Minerals Council is more than 135 years old. It began on the back of the gold mining industry—after the diamond fields of Kimberley—when the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand led to the formation of the Chamber of Mines to engage with government on behalf of the industry. On that foundation came platinum group metals after the Merensky Reef discovery, as well as bulk commodities (iron ore, copper and manganese) in the Northern Cape and Limpopo; coal-based electricity powered South Africa’s industrialisation, while manganese and iron ore went into domestic steel. After decades of dominating the global gold supply market, South Africa has increasingly turned to its other world-leading mineral endowments that supply the domestic and international markets, platinum, rhodium, chrome and manganese are some of the examples.
That mineral endowment drove the country’s self-sufficiency and industrial growth. A little over five years ago the Chamber of Mines re-branded as Minerals Council South Africa to reflect a changing global and domestic context. I succeeded Roger Baxter as CEO in August 2023; he had served the organisation for more than 30 years, including nine years as chief executive.
How would you assess South Africa’s strategic position in the global minerals market?
South Africa’s mining industryhas always been significant: gold was once our predominant metal and, at the 1970 peak, we produced about 1,000 t and held the world’s top spot. Although gold output has since declined due to depleting reserves, the other minerals we produce—many now classed as critical—remain essential to global development.
South Africa is host to the largest known deposits of platinum group metals – which are essential for a low-carbon future – manganese and chrome, with substantial resources of vanadium and iron ore.
Equally important is the depth of mining skills developed here; our value chain has become an export in its own right. As exploration accelerates worldwide, one often meets professionals who trained in, or spent long periods with, the South African industry, underscoring the country’s continuing influence. South African mines, among the deepest in the world, pose unique challenges that our mining and rock engineers have found solutions to overcoming. We have a world-class mining industry that is making significant inroads into associated safety and health issues.
Is South Africa endowed with rare-earth elements?
Rare earths fall into the “moderate-to-high” criticality tier of our national strategy. Two discoveries have already been made in South Africa and both are substantial in terms of resource size.
Each find is attracting financial and technical attention to prove it up and convert resources to reserves. Given global demand for rare earths, these projects should become highly meaningful once their extent and economics are fully defined.
The country’s first Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy aims to attract exploration investment. What is the investor sentiment toward South Africa at present?
Government has created a 400 million-rand—about US$20 million—exploration fund to “put money where its mouth is.” Although modest, the fund’s two-thirds disbursement shows momentum; it supports listed critical minerals only and requires appropriate black ownership, yet the initiative has been well received and could pave the way for far larger, even multi-billion-dollar, funding vehicles.
Sentiment is still muted publicly, but interest is clear in the steady flow of prospecting-right applications reported by the DMPR (Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources). Some are rejected where they overlap existing rights, yet the volume signals intent. We are engaging the government on the new Mineral Resources Development Amendment Bill to ensure the regulatory environment truly stimulates exploration and mining investment and development.
Could increasing beneficiation requirements deter international companies from investing in South Africa mining?
Beneficiation demands are a characteristic—often defensive—response from resource-rich countries whose minerals have long been exported with limited domestic gain. The underlying message is that while the world needs our transition minerals, investment must also drive economic and social progress in host nations.
Beneficiation therefore must be realistic, often regional, creating domestic markets as well as export channels. Blanket restrictions or export taxes risk unsettling investors; instead, a quid-pro-quo approach can secure continued mineral supply while encouraging targeted, competitive downstream investment that genuinely develops skills, infrastructure and diversified industries, whilst fulfilling the global supply chain for critical minerlas
Is government willing to negotiate with stakeholders and communicate carefully on issues such as energy tariffs and export taxes?
Yes, we are engaged in such negotiations now on behalf of the chrome industry to understand smelter electricity costs and to avoid export taxes that would damage primary producers without solving the beneficiation problem.
Reliable, globally cost competitive electricity is the short- and long-term solution: once electricity is competitive, smelters can restart and new beneficiation can generate real value. Policy must therefore support, not undermine, primary mining while ensuring the right skills and investment conditions are present.
How easy—or difficult—is it for junior miners to operate in South Africa compared with other jurisdictions?
Junior exploration is entrepreneurial everywhere, but here the chief obstacles are administrative rather than legislative. Licences are supposed to be issued within a six-month window; when deadlines slip, juniors exhaust their administration budgets and start eating into funds meant for drilling and fieldwork.
A second obstacle is “over-pegging,” where applications are accepted over existing rights, forcing incumbents into costly litigation. The DMPR is tackling both issues, notably through a new online cadastral system that will automatically reject duplicate applications and speed up processing.
What are the Minerals Council’s top priorities through to 2030?
First is our Zero Harm goal. Fatalities have fallen to under 42 a year, proving that elimination is possible; our revised strategy now covers physical safety, health and mental wellness.
Second is growth and job creation: stimulating prospecting, new mines and critical-mineral supply while using mining’s catalytic power to unlock energy and transport infrastructure. The long-term sustainability of existing operations is equally important.
Third, we aim to deepen regional cooperation through MIASA (Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa), foster intra-African trade and help initiatives such as visa-free travel to drive broader socio-economic development.
