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Cape Town - To salvage jobs and a future for the platinum mining industry in South Africa, the government should ban open cast mining that employs far fewer people, damages the water table and creates environmental havoc.
So says mining expert Peter Major, who is a mining and resources head for Cadiz fund managers.
Speaking on Tuesday at a roundtable discussion at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) Major pointed out that, from a return on investment point of view, platinum was “kak”.
His blunt take on the platinum mining crisis, the ongoing strike and its implications for the future of the domestic mining sector, underlined many of the problems raised by other speakers at the high level discussion.
Although presenting differing points of view, Andile Sangqu of Implats [JSE:IMP], former Business Leadership CEO Michael Spicer and John Capel, executive director of the Benchmarks Foundation, highlighted the terrible quandary now faced by government.
However, it was only John Capel who raised the overriding emotional importance of the Marikana massacre of 2012.
In what was agreed is an ongoing global economic crisis, there were also useful insights into the current state of the industry and the threat posed to the future of the platinum industry by both recycling and the challenge of palladium.
Russia, with huge resources of palladium, stood to benefit most.
However, there was general agreement that the roots of the present crisis, of the gross inequality in society, not just in the mining industry, lie in the past.
It begged the comment by the late Maya Angelou, who once noted: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived. But, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
While there was considerable agreement about the amount of wrenching pain in the past, the question of how to face it, let alone with courage, seemed to remain illusive.
They only briefly touched on the apparently sudden withdrawal from the mediation process of new Mining Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi.
Although the question never reached the floor in the brief question and answer session, there were remarks in the audience and questions about Ramathlodi and whether he had “jumped or was he pushed”.
In other words, were there political considerations or was pressure applied?
- Fin24
* Terry Bell is a political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.
So says mining expert Peter Major, who is a mining and resources head for Cadiz fund managers.
Speaking on Tuesday at a roundtable discussion at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) Major pointed out that, from a return on investment point of view, platinum was “kak”.
His blunt take on the platinum mining crisis, the ongoing strike and its implications for the future of the domestic mining sector, underlined many of the problems raised by other speakers at the high level discussion.
Although presenting differing points of view, Andile Sangqu of Implats [JSE:IMP], former Business Leadership CEO Michael Spicer and John Capel, executive director of the Benchmarks Foundation, highlighted the terrible quandary now faced by government.
However, it was only John Capel who raised the overriding emotional importance of the Marikana massacre of 2012.
In what was agreed is an ongoing global economic crisis, there were also useful insights into the current state of the industry and the threat posed to the future of the platinum industry by both recycling and the challenge of palladium.
Russia, with huge resources of palladium, stood to benefit most.
However, there was general agreement that the roots of the present crisis, of the gross inequality in society, not just in the mining industry, lie in the past.
It begged the comment by the late Maya Angelou, who once noted: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived. But, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
While there was considerable agreement about the amount of wrenching pain in the past, the question of how to face it, let alone with courage, seemed to remain illusive.
They only briefly touched on the apparently sudden withdrawal from the mediation process of new Mining Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi.
Although the question never reached the floor in the brief question and answer session, there were remarks in the audience and questions about Ramathlodi and whether he had “jumped or was he pushed”.
In other words, were there political considerations or was pressure applied?
- Fin24
* Terry Bell is a political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.
