by Ina King (Potgieter)
As mining investors, mine suppliers and mining companies descend on Johannesburg, South Africa, for the bi-annual Electra Mining Africa, the time is ripe for companies providing equipment and services to the mining sector to target business opportunities in the market. Africa, the second-largest mineral industry in the world, has a current market value of $248 trillion.
The continent is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first in the quantity of world reserves of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamond, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals (PGM), vermiculite, and zirconium. Mining companies should gear up to extract these resources.
Where can you target your business?
On the regional front (illustrated by the graph below) greenfield mining projects in progressive phases of development and operational mines are vast. There are close to 2 000 mining projects in various stages of development, which are further broken down into specific regions:
- Central Africa: 57 projects
- Southern Africa: 225 projects
- West Africa: 225 Projects
- East Africa: 139 projects
- North Africa: 18 projects
- Indian Ocean: 15 projects
South Africa, the highest valued region, is one of two of the largest producers of gold on the continent. The country was also recently named the wealthiest country for its minerals [MACIG 2022 by Global Business Reports (GBR)], including: PGM, base metals, diamonds, and gold. South Africa is experiencing a rise in investments from technological upgrades; digitisation as a reaction to the pandemic; and a positive mentality shift that prioritises productivity, sustainability and transparency.
Greenfield projects in various phases of development
Notably, and great for investors, is the number of projects in exploration phase – 659.
Current value of projects in development
The combined projects in development per region are:
- Central Africa: $25 160 361 475
- East Africa: $23 149 752 988
- North Africa: $1 233 872 984
- Southern Africa: $85 617 897 702
- West Africa: $26 981 965 055
- Indian Ocean: $ 487 705 061
Africa Mining IQ supports African investment opportunities by enabling businesses to effectively target over 2000 African mines and mining projects.
The progressive phases of development per region, and mined minerals per region are available to AMIQ subscribers. This makes it possible for service providers and equipment suppliers to identify exactly where their equipment and/or service offering is needed, and to take the appropriate action to secure both tender-based and tender-less contracts.
Close to 10 000 contact details for mine managers, engineers, procurement personnel, and all other essential information for investors and suppliers are available to AMIQ subscribers.
