An estimated 7,200 delegates are gearing up for the 2012 Invest in African Mining Indaba at the ICC in Cape Town this week, where the contentious topic of Nationalisation is set to take centre stage.  

The three-day affair, organised by US-based company Mining Indaba LLC, will look to focus on three key issues, namely sustainability, Asia, and the looming issue of nationalisation.

The ANC’s eagerly-awaited report on state involvement in the South African mining sector is set to be made public this month, and already mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu, and Trevor Manuel (minister of the presidency) have told delegates that nationalisation is not a viable option for the ANC.
“The mining sector is so fundamentally important as a platform to construct the [upliftment] transition that we can’t be able to take this idea of nationalisation forward”, Manuel said in a recent Times Live article.

Many have identified problems around sustainability and socially-conscious mining, with deputy minister of mines Godfrey Oliphant stating that “we have looked at the communities around our mines, and it is not good enough. We have to do better”. As such, Business Live reports that a major focus this year will be the “link between mining company’s corporate strategy and sustainable development issues”.

In reaction to these concerns, The Alternative Mining Indaba, which is running concurrently with the main Indaba, seeks to tell the “true story” of mining in Africa, highlighting the poverty of those communities adjacent to mining, the lack of job creation in the sector and the detrimental effect on the environment, Business Day has said.

China’s insatiable demand for commodities and the increasing role of the Asian region in the mining sector is perhaps the strongest overriding concern, as has been the case over the past few events. Indeed, this year’s event will be used as a platform to launch the new Invest in Asian Mining Indaba, an event based on the successful African model. Director of Marketing for the Indaba, Maria Palombini, confirms that India and China have been pushing for a bigger role in this year’s event, and that there are more non-African government presentation tabled than ever before- the majority of which coming from Asia.

These developments come as SARS has suggested that increased trade with Africa- driven by Asian demand- could “help cushion SA in face of a global slowdown”. In this, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, it looks certain that big stakeholders at this year’s Indaba will continue to look East for growth.

Sources: Business Day, Times Live