3 °c
London
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAsia FurtherArabia FurtherBrazil FurtherRussia
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
No Result
View All Result
Home Africa

Africa’s pandemic-hit mining sector faces exploration challenge

Staff by Staff
February 3, 2021
in Africa, Commodities, Economy, FDI, Finance, Investing, Mining
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share via QRWhatsappShare on FacebookShare on TwitterLinkedInPinteresteMail

Travel restrictions, supply chain disruptions and risk aversion since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have slammed the brakes on mining exploration in Africa, jeopardising the minerals supply pipeline.

African Mining Indaba (photo shows the pre-pandemic, 2020 event) – The leading event in the African Mining Sector.

Inward investment will be a key focus at the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba virtual conference, which took off yesterday and is ending this Wednesday, with companies looking to capitalise on higher metals prices and the transition to green energy.

Without exploration, the continent’s rich mineral resources are at risk of being unutilised as older mines become unviable.

Mining companies’ exploration budgets for Africa fell 10% to a four-year low in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“COVID-19 has had an impact on all aspects of the mining value chain, and exploration is no exception,” said Alex Khumalo, head of social performance at the Minerals Council, South Africa, an industry trade group.

While Africa did not fare as badly as Latin America, where budgets fell by 21%, the sharp decline was in marked contrast to the 1.5% dip in the United States and Canada.

Also read: Mining Indaba Virtual ends today: full day agenda and speakers line-up

In many cases companies have been turning more towards their home jurisdictions and what they see as their safe-haven investments, said Chris Galbraith, senior metals and mining analyst at S&P Global.

“With many of these companies based in Canada, the U.S. and Australia, more of their exploration has been focused on domestic exploration … and oftentimes that has come at the expense of African development,” he said.

For junior explorers and miners, raising capital on public markets has been a challenge while the pandemic has made it even more difficult to access private equity capital.

SOUTH AFRICAN GLOOM
South Africa – a leading producer of platinum, palladium, chrome and gold – was the worst-hit African nation, with overall mining exploration budgets at a 17-year low. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Ghana also had sharp falls.

“I’ve seen 20 or 30 projects that have probably collectively cut 200 million to 300 million rand (about US$13M to US$20M) worth of exploration spending this year,” said Errol Smart, CEO of Orion Minerals.

Investors have been unable to visit projects during the pandemic while restrictions on borders have delayed equipment deliveries.

“Nobody invests in something unless they can go there and see it, touch it, kick the tyres. They want to visit the site,” said Smart.

Orion, which last month said it had discovered further significant copper, zinc and nickel deposits around its flagship Prieska Project in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, has been waiting for equipment from Australia to conduct geophysical surveys.

“We still have uncertainty over when they can get to site to be used,” said Smart.

With less exploration activity, African mineral resources might not be developed fast enough to replace older mines as they become depleted.

There is hope, however, that COVID-19 vaccination programmes will speed the world’s recovery from the pandemic and boost the mining sector. Post-pandemic economic recovery could drive higher metals demand and prices, potentially encouraging increased exploration spending this year, particularly in gold.

Exploration budget increases in Ivory Coast, Guinea and Senegal have indicated continued interest in gold-rich West African countries despite the pandemic.

Source: Reuters

Related

Tags: africaAfrica's pandemic-hit mining sector faces exploration challengeAfrican Mining IndabaFDIforeign direct investmentInvestingInvesting in African Mining IndabaMiningOrion MineralsS&P GlobalS&P Global Market Intelligenceафрикаأفريقياアフリカ非洲
ScanSendShare320Tweet200Share56Pin72Send
Previous Post

‘Zimbabwe will have access to Chinese COVID-19 vaccine soon’ – Ambassador

Next Post

Nigerian fintech ‘Carbon’ reach US$240M in payments processed last year, 89% increase from 2019

Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Ethiopia’s Assela wind farm project enters construction
Renewables

Eastern and Southern Africa’s vast renewables potential offers route to sustainable growth

by Staff
April 20, 2021
Coronavirus

Ethiopian Airlines delivers COVID-19 vaccine to Brazil; over 20 million doses delivered worldwide

by Staff
April 20, 2021
Mozambique

Mozambique: Metical appreciated 35% this year, but earnings expected to reverse – Standard Bank

by FurtherAfrica
April 20, 2021
Wilderness Safaris opens the new DumaTau camp in Botswana
Tourism

Wilderness Safaris opens the new DumaTau camp in Botswana

by BOTSWANA UNPLUGGED
April 20, 2021
Zimbabwe secures US$98M for Brazilian irrigation equipment
Agriculture

South Africa: agribusiness in 2020 and what to expect in 2021

by Farmers Review Africa
April 20, 2021
Next Post

Nigerian fintech 'Carbon' reach US$240M in payments processed last year, 89% increase from 2019

Prorogation of the State of Emergency in Mozambique – Updates

Mozambique: Government awaits notification of South Africa vaccine donation

Insight: WAEMU financial inclusion through an education strategy

UNDP partners with Norrsken Foundation to support promising impact startups

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2021 AFSIC
2022 Indaba Mining

FurtherAfrica Partners

The Exchange Club of Mozambique Taarifa Rwanda
CrudeMix Africa TechGist Africa Farmers Review Africa
Botswana unplugged Financial Insights Zambia Africa Oil & Power
Harambee Africa Novafrica  

Subscribe to FurtherAfrica

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new articles on your email.

Join 73,051 other subscribers.

FurtherAfrica

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

FurtherAfrica is a FurtherMarkets Limited platform

  • Countries
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?