South Africa’s exploration landscape is increasingly becoming more fertile for the discovery of world-class deposits of minerals of the future such as lithium, Rare Earth Minerals, copper, and nickel, according to the country’s mineral resources minister.
Minister Gwede Mantashe told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town that these minerals provide a solid base for industries of the future as well as the balanced energy security sought by the country, the region, and the world.
“This is a direct result of our deliberate investments in geo-mapping through the Council for Geoscience (CGS), whose coverage of the onshore mapping has systematically expanded to 11.4% from below 5% when the programme started a handful of years ago,” he said.
The minister said in their pursuit to unleash junior mining and the emergence of new mines in South Africa, the government partnered with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to create an R500 million exploration fund.
The fund, he said, will be supported with geological information to de-risk the exploration activities and increase the chances of success.
“The initial phase of the implementation of this fund is deliberately kept small to prove the value of geological information to accelerate advancement along the exploration value chain trajectory to the pre-feasibility stage,” said Mantashe.
As part of our regional and international economic policy predisposition, we recognise partnerships in geosciences as one of our key and efficient instruments to this effect.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Cape Town, South Africa, Rough&Polished
Minister Gwede Mantashe told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town that these minerals provide a solid base for industries of the future as well as the balanced energy security sought by the country, the region, and the world.
“This is a direct result of our deliberate investments in geo-mapping through the Council for Geoscience (CGS), whose coverage of the onshore mapping has systematically expanded to 11.4% from below 5% when the programme started a handful of years ago,” he said.
The minister said in their pursuit to unleash junior mining and the emergence of new mines in South Africa, the government partnered with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to create an R500 million exploration fund.
The fund, he said, will be supported with geological information to de-risk the exploration activities and increase the chances of success.
“The initial phase of the implementation of this fund is deliberately kept small to prove the value of geological information to accelerate advancement along the exploration value chain trajectory to the pre-feasibility stage,” said Mantashe.
As part of our regional and international economic policy predisposition, we recognise partnerships in geosciences as one of our key and efficient instruments to this effect.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Cape Town, South Africa, Rough&Polished
