Transition depends on mineralisation
Stakeholders have been trying to alter the perception of South Africa’s mining sector from that of a “sunset industry” to a “sunrise industry”, but such a transition inherently depends on the country’s mineral potential, states the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). “This applies not only to our traditional base of precious metals, diamonds, coal and ferrous metals, and the new uses to which these can be applied, but also to the ‘new metals and minerals’ that our changing industrial demands are creating.”