While South Africa should pursue its ambitions of becoming a competitive beneficiator of its own resources, care should be taken that beneficiation is not perceived as distinct from manufacturing in general, the Manufacturing Circle warned on Wednesday.

Presenting a written submission at the Colloquium on Beneficiation, held by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, Manufacturing Circle executive director Coenraad Bezuidenhout said much of the “beneficiation discussions” revolved around mines and the beneficiation of minerals.

“As a result, much of the discussion has been viewed in terms of the traditional re-enforcement of mining as an enclave industry in South Africa, albeit with a substantial impact on the rest of the economy,” he stated.

However, a “significant case” for the manufacturing sector to play a greater role in discussions around beneficiation, as there were several domestically-based manufacturing firms located both upstream and downstream in the mining value chain.

Bezuidenhout stressed that beneficiation extended to other raw materials, such as wood and agricultural products, and recyclable materials, as well as value addition and processing, many processes of which were much more common to the activities of manufacturers than to those of miners, farmers or other upstream activities.

Further, the beneficiation of recyclable materials and scrap was more job-intensive and less energy-intensive than the beneficiation of ores.

“It should be accepted as an unquestionable truth that if localising the beneficiation of [South Africa’s] natural, reclaimed or recycled resources, and the development of human resources, was a top priority, South Africa’s potential to deliver economic growth, broad-based prosperity and employment to many South Africans through manufacturing would grow. The scale-based incentives beneficiation offers would promote manufacturing competitiveness, innovation would be triggered and a culture of entrepreneurship would be fostered,” he said.

Bezuidenhout outlined five high-level interventions that could promote local beneficiation, including suggestions to “level the playing field” with regard to intellectual property (IP) rights, which the Manufacturing Circle felt currently failed to support the national system of innovation.

“South Africa’s non-examining approach and lack of online patent search facilities make it harder for local inventors to research new inventions, easier for innovation grants to be wastefully disbursed and more difficult for local IP to be protected abroad,” he noted.

Further, there was a need to make environmental measures work for sustainable beneficiation, promote investment in beneficiation infrastructure and services, identify preferential procurement opportunities for locally beneficiated products and depoliticise and promote access to land and raw materials.