BIG CHALLENGES – HUGE POTENTIAL
Exploration
and Mining
in Africa
by Simon Rees
For many in Africa's mining sector, 2012 will probably be a year
best forgotten. Certainly this is the
case for those major South Africafocused companies, which faced
a wave of strikes and protests last
year. Compromises were eventually reached, although industrial
relations remain uneasy. It should
be remembered that mineral-rich
South Africa supplies around 75%
of the world's platinum and is the
world's second-largest producer of
gold after China.
Elsewhere in Africa, northern Mali suffered from the rise of
Islamist extremists. Thankfully,
French operations that started
in February 2013 appear to have
reclaimed the lost ground, with a
handover to Malian and other West
African forces now starting. Mali,
like its neighbour Burkina Faso, has
vast resource potential.
Other issues are more perennial,
such as the problems surrounding
Africa's infrastructure and transparency levels. Norton Rose, partner
and Africa mining law specialist,
Poupak Bahamin, underscored this.
"[Major development hurdles]
come mostly from the weakness of
the physical infrastructure, such as
roads and transportation. But it's
14 www.resourceworld.com
Energizer Resources continues its aggressive
pace in developing its Green Giant Graphite
Project in Madagascar. The picture shows
the graphite to be at surface with very little
overburden. Photo courtesy of Energizer
Resources Inc.
JUNE 2013
