Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral & Petroleum Resources of South Africa, said in the closing address of The Joburg Indaba that mining companies must provide more bursaries for mining skills.

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Mantashe said: “mining is about continuous recovery of rich ore bodies, it is about the health of financial availability, it is about the availability of skills in this sector. Everything else follows those three components. And therefore, we are engaging the University of the North West to open a mining school. You will always need geologists, you will always need mining engineers, you will always need metallurgists.”

Bernard Swanepoel, Chairman of The Joburg Indaba, said when he was at university everyone had a bursary and with that came a commitment to work and on the job training. “It was an enabling environment.” But at universities today less than 30% of mining engineering students have bursaries.

Echoing Swanepoel’s sentiments, Mantashe said: “mining companies must provide more bursaries for mining skills.” He added that a company may have 400 bursaries only to discover that 350 of them are in social sciences.

“This country has a track record of providing the world with cutting edge skills in mining. It is not by accident, it is because of the skills that we generate. We should, as an industry, take pride in that and pay money to generate those skills, if we don’t they are going to disappear,” Mantashe said.

The second day of The Joburg Indaba at Inanda Club in Sandton, Johannesburg was attended by several hundred CEOs, investors and policymakers. The Joburg Indaba, which took place on 8 and 9 October, is hosted by Resources 4 Africa, in collaboration with Thinkspiration.

A poll of the delegates, in which they were asked what is the greatest threat to developing the next generation of mining leaders, showed that 43% considered a lack of mentorship and knowledge transfer the biggest threat, 31% considered a skills mismatch with new technologies, 22% considered limited youth interest in mining careers, and 12% emigration of experienced professionals.

Continued skills development, along with mentorship is crucial to building the next generation of leaders for the industry. Ben Magara, CEO of Exxaro Resources, said: “we have three challenges or megatrends in the world, energy transition, urbanisation and AI. All these require an unprecedented amount minerals, and hence require skills and leadership.

The kind of leader I would like to be is to have contributed to the next generation of leaders, who are capable of taking this industry, as key and critical as it is in the world, forward with better productivity and efficiencies.”

Panel discussions on day two of the Joburg Indaba also focused on the continued role of coal in the energy mix especially given the increasing demand for energy, the stabilisation of Eskom, the ongoing improvements at Transnet, and capital allocation.

Moses Madondo, CEO of Thungela, said coal is still required for energy competitiveness. “The surge in AI, data infrastructure, and electric vehicles, all are generating demand for energy. The world needs abundant, affordable and reliable energy, and coal is still required for energy competitiveness.”
Mantashe said the critical mineral that is ignored is coal, and it will be around for a long time.

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While Thungela, Seriti and Exxaro, all coal producers, promoted the ongoing use of coal, they also either acknowledged the need for renewable energy, or are developing cleaner energy projects, such as through Seriti Green or at Exxaro that will double its renewable energy business by 2027.

Coal companies and others pointed to the devastation for coal-dependent communities if a large percentage of coal-fired power stations and coal mines were closed.
Mteto Nyati, Chairman of Eskom, said: “we are putting a lot of focus on clean energy now – we feel there is still runway with coal but we need cleaner energy.”

Nyati added that “the stabilisation of Eskom was achieved by being focused, disciplined in execution, and pushing back on people trying to influence Eskom in particular ways.” The systemic issues identified at Eskom included unreliable power stations, the balance sheet, a dysfunctional organisational, and corruption and criminality. These were addressed by setting clear targets and timelines.

The focus now is to provide energy that is reasonably priced. Eskom intends to take out R112 billion of costs over the next five years and is aiming to achieve price increases in single digits and in line with CPI.

Michelle Phillips, CEO of Transnet, said: “we have started stabilising, we have made promises to the industry.” Part of Transnet’s approach to addressing inefficiencies is partnerships with customers and industries.

“We must work together. We have to get this network up to standard so we can run trains in an uninterrupted way. We can’t do it on our own, so we are engaging with customers.”

Mantashe said he would assess the improvements at Transnet when iron ore reaches Saldanha on time with the right volume, when coal reaches Richards Bay on time with right volume, and when manganese arrives at the port on time with the right volumes.

The mining industry in South Africa faces a challenge with the US prioritising the mining industry and hence fast-tracking permitting, making it an attractive investment destination.

Caroline Donally, Managing Partner at Sprott Resource Streaming and Royalty, said US President Donald Trump’s has changed the narrative on mining. The implication for South Africa is foreign investors will allocate capital to parts of the world they know well, such as the US and Canada, and where projects can get permits fast tracked.
Sayurie Naidoo, CFO at Valterra Platinum, said it is upon all of us to reestablish South Africa as an attractive mining destination.