JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Government and mining industry stakeholders had to work collectively to attract more investment into South Africa, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the second yearly Mining Lekgotla, Gordhan said that, while South Africa was well endowed with mineral resources, the presence of these resources did not guarantee investment in the country’s mining industry.

“So what are we doing with our resources, how do we attract investment and ensure that all stakeholders will benefit from this investment?” he asked.

The Minister pointed out that mining was a long-term industry and that investors wanted to know with a good deal of certainty that their investments would be safe.

“Negative perceptions about the country and the mining industry are being created and the challenge for us is to direct our collective efforts at minimising or even completely eliminating those perceptions,” he said.

Another significant challenge that the South African mining industry was faced with was the lack of infrastructure.

“However, government’s infrastructure plan addresses this challenge and we will see the impact within the next three to six months,” Gordhan said, adding that much of the plan was directed at the mining industry.

With regard to labour – another significant challenge – Gordhan stated that government had been in discussions with various stakeholders since October last year and that the country had to do what was required to stabilise the industry.

“We need a period of peace to reflect on what led to the events of last year and what we need to do to establish labour relations stability,” he said.

However, while South Africa was faced with challenges, it was also important to consider the country’s strengths, Gordhan commented.

These strengths included that South Africa had a strong and established mining sector with knowledgeable mining experts. The country was also strong in the innovation space with significant technical knowledge. 

Nevertheless, the country was not going to become competitive simply through discussions, he said. 

“We would need to do exceptional things and would need exceptional leadership to turn around the current negative narrative that is characterising the mining industry. A new-generation partnership is needed and we need to ask ourselves what exceptional things we are going to do,” Gordhan concluded.