SA NAMED 10TH WORST MINING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
South Africa has been named in the bottom 10 of the Fraser Institute’s survey. This is a significant slip in numbers for the country.
The annual survey is a survey done globally and is highly regarded. It measures the investment attractiveness of mining jurisdictions.
This year is the first year that we’ve been ranked in the bottom 10. Other countries featuring in the bottom 10 include Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa’s neighbouring country, Zimbabwe came in last.
In 2019 we were ranked 40th followed by 2021’s ranking of 75th place.
News24 reports that the index considers both policy and mineral potential and other metrics based on responses from companies operating and exploring in these jurisdictions.
The Minerals Council South Africa shared its disappointment of being listed in the bottom 10 for the first time.
“This is a deeply disappointing reflection of the state of mining in South Africa. It is worrying that the trend remains downwards rather than stabilising or improving. We must revitalise our efforts to address the underlying challenges informing this trend,” said Roger Baxter, Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter.
News24 further reports that of major concern to the council is the backlog of more than 4 000 mining and prospecting rights as well as mineral right transfer applications within the department. Also worrying is slow progress to replace the failed South African Mineral Resource Administration cadastral system with a modern, transparent, corruption-free, online system.
Image credit: South African Market Insights