Mineral beneficiation is a priority for governments of resource rich countries that would like to leverage the potential of mineral beneficiation to create local employment and drive economic growth. Many governments are developing strategies for domestic mineral beneficiation.

South African President Jacob Zuma, has said that mineral beneficiation is a priority for his government and will finalise and adopt a beneficiation strategy as its official policy. In June 2011, government released a strategy that identified a number of instruments such as policies, legislation and incentives that can be put in place to enable beneficiation.

A mining company will typically be in one of the following assessment phases with respect to beneficiation:

• Strategic Assessment: an analysis of the strategic considerations as well as risks and opportunities for mineral beneficiation, particularly focusing on the business case and taking into consideration government incentives and social imperatives like job creation;
• Feasibility Assessment: the beneficiation opportunities have been identified and feasibility studies need to be undertaken to determine the viability of such initiatives; or
• Implementation: the feasibility of an initiative has been determined and an implementation plan and schedule needs to be developed.

This paper is the first in a series about beneficiation and will be updated as legislation and incentives come into effect, which assesses the merits of beneficiation.

Written by Ebrahim Takolia, Executive Lead, Deloitte
Email: etakolia@deloitte.co.za
Tel: +27 (0)11 209 6493