Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has called for sustainable growth and development in the mining sector to “ensure the speedy realisation of government's transformation objectives”.

This, she said, was in order “to accommodate the groups yearning for inclusion within the mainstream economy, which still reflects the pre-1994 demographic dominance of certain groups”.

Shabangu was addressing the opening of the McClosky Southern African Coal Exports conference on Thursday in Cape Town.

“South Africa has about 49-million citizens, more than 50% of them women. Despite the good intentions of the transformation laws, women are still not properly represented in the sector.

“Continued reliance of the sector on the previously advantaged 20% of the population, obsessed with a bottom line approach at the expense of national objectives, has undermined the objectives of this sector,” said Shabangu, adding that those who remain marginalised in the economy must be included in the sector.

Shabangu challenged Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies to do things differently, and not to “merely buy these assets (companies) and yet still perpetuate the pre-1994 trend, in terms of their asset management and control”.

Switching her focus to the plight of small players in the industry, she said junior operators found it difficult to access funding for their exploration and mining activities.

“This leads to some of these players selling their properties prematurely, which defeats the objective of raising levels of participation of BEEs in the sector,” she said.

One of the delegates at the conference, Vuslat Bayoglu, director at Umthombo Resources, applauded the minister’s take on the need for sustainable transformation of the industry.

“Having a minister like her gives confidence to the industry. She makes us feel safe. She was upfront,” he said.

South Africa is a world leader in mining, accounting for a significant proportion of world production and reserves. In 2009, according to the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, the industry contributed 8.8% directly, and another 10% indirectly, to the country's gross domestic product.