Junior diamond miners can again be catalysts for mining sector growth, says Sadpo

(miningweekly.com) - South Africa lacks a healthy junior exploration and mining sector, when it could be a catalyst for growth and transformation in the sector, says the South African Diamond Producers Organisation (Sadpo). For example, the discovery of alluvial diamonds in the unique secondary deposits of the Middle Orange River downstream of Hopetown in 1867 was the catalyst that initiated the development of the mining industry in Southern Africa. Sadpo representative Lyndon De Meillon says that, compared with the junior diamond mining sector’s heyday between 1990 and early 2000s, today’s sector is a shadow of its past. “In 2000, prior to South Africa’s changes to mineral policy ownership and regulation, and introduction of new ownership requirements, this key industry supported about 2 000 small and medium-sized private and listed operators.”