South African Business 2024
Welcome to the 12th edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa, supported by an e-book edition at www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. A special feature in this journal focusses on the relationship between tertiary education, training and the jobs market. The youth unemployment rate is referenced in a discussion of the various measures that are being taken in the public and private sectors to help prepare young people for work, or to encourage them to start businesses. The role of the country’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is highlighted. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy. This includes tracking the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape and reporting on the progress of exploration and discoveries of oil and gas off the coast and on land. Landmarks such as BMW’s 50-year celebration of making cars in South Africa are noted and a snapshot of each of the country’s provinces is provided. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces. The e-book editions can be viewed online at www.globalafricanetwork.com and www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. These unique titles are supported by monthly business e-newsletters. The Journal of African Business joined the Global African Network stable of publications as an annual in 2020 and is now published quarterly.
Welcome to the 12th edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa, supported by an e-book edition at www.southafricanbusiness.co.za.
A special feature in this journal focusses on the relationship between tertiary education, training and the jobs market. The youth unemployment rate is referenced in a discussion of the various measures that are being taken in the public and private sectors to help prepare young people for work, or to encourage them to start businesses. The role of the country’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is highlighted.
Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy. This includes tracking the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape and reporting on the progress of exploration and discoveries of oil and gas off the coast and on land. Landmarks such as BMW’s 50-year celebration of making cars in South Africa are noted and a snapshot of each of the country’s provinces is provided.
South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces. The e-book editions can be viewed online at www.globalafricanetwork.com and www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. These unique titles are supported by monthly business e-newsletters. The Journal of African Business joined the Global African Network stable of publications as an annual in 2020 and is now published quarterly.
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SEZ will be what is the biggest new mine project in the country, the<br />
Gamsberg project of Vedanta Zinc International, which will deliver<br />
600 000 tons of zinc when phase three is complete. The provincial<br />
government is using the mine’s multifaceted activities (and possible<br />
future smelter) as the basis for the SEZ which forms part of a larger<br />
“multi-nodal” corridor envisaged for the province.<br />
Copper is one of the most important elements needed to power<br />
the renewable energy transformation and so it’s no surprise that areas<br />
mined historically for that mineral in the Northern Cape are now back in<br />
the news. Batteries need copper, as do systems used to transmit energy<br />
from solar or wind sources. Electric vehicles contain an average of 85kg<br />
and, according to the CEO of newly formed Copper 360, Jan Nelson, the<br />
world had a stock of copper equal to only three weeks supply at a certain<br />
point in February 2023 (Financial Mail, 23 February 2023).<br />
Copper 360 was formed in November 2022 following a reverse<br />
takeover of copper producer Big Tree Copper (a producer of copper)<br />
and SHiP Copper (a mining company). The company listed on the AltX<br />
of the JSE in April 2023. Copper 360 produces 1 200t/y of A-grade copper<br />
cathode and has set a target of achieving 7 700t/y inside two years. Three<br />
new copper flotation plants are being built at a cost of R280-million. With<br />
280 new employees over the last two years and plans to recruit a further<br />
1 000 staff members in the next two years, global copper demand is<br />
clearly also good news for the town of Nababeep. Founded in 1860<br />
by the Okiep Mining Company, Nababeep is in the Namakwa District<br />
Municipality just north of Springbok.<br />
An old zinc mine at Prieska that produced a million tons of zinc<br />
and 430 000 tons of copper before it closed in 1991 is being revived<br />
by Australian miner Orion Minerals. Orion Minerals has secured a<br />
funding package of $87-million from subsidiaries of Triple Flag Precious<br />
Metals. The funding is conditional on the rest of the plan for the mine’s<br />
development also receiving funding and on the approval of <strong>South</strong><br />
Africa’s regulatory authorities.<br />
Afrimat continues to expand its commodities portfolio with the<br />
purchase for R300-million of Coza Mining, an iron-ore mining company<br />
in the Northern Cape.<br />
Prospects and exploration<br />
Mzila Mthenjane, the newly appointed CEO of Minerals Council<br />
<strong>South</strong> Africa, the mining industry employers’ body, co-authored an<br />
article for the Sunday Times in<br />
October 2023 in which it was<br />
stated that:<br />
“We would see a relatively<br />
quick shift in our economy if<br />
the Department of Mineral<br />
Resources and Energy expedited<br />
approvals for more than 5 000<br />
prospecting and mining right<br />
applications and mining permits.”<br />
Citing Stats SA figures that<br />
mining employed 477 574<br />
people in Q2 2023 and that for<br />
every person directly employed,<br />
a further 10 people are<br />
dependent on the industry for<br />
their livelihoods, Mthenjane and<br />
Otsile Matlou, COO of law firm<br />
ENSafrica, argued that “billions<br />
of rands of latent investments<br />
and future spending [are]<br />
locked up in these applications”.<br />
Among the things that<br />
the authors called for are the<br />
introduction of a “transparent,<br />
corruption-free, off-the-shelf<br />
digital mineral rights management<br />
system known as a cadastre”. In<br />
August 2023, an announcement<br />
was made that a winning bidder<br />
for a new cadastral system had<br />
been identified for the tender<br />
which had gone out in March<br />
2023. Final arrangements still had<br />
to made, and the name of the<br />
company was not known as of the<br />
last week of November. ■<br />
ONLINE RESOURCES<br />
Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za<br />
Minerals Council <strong>South</strong> Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za<br />
National Department of Mineral Resources and Energy: www.dmr.gov.za<br />
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SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS <strong>2024</strong>