South Africa is still an attractive destination to those who are interested in mineral investments, says Chamber Mines President Mike Teke.
Addressing the Economic Policy Dialogue in Pretoria, on Monday, Teke said the Chamber of Mines was excited about the Mining Phakisa operation which was recently announced by the government.
He said the Mining Phakisa would assist the mining sector to address issues which include how to encourage investment growth and transformation in the mining industry. Other issues to be looked at would include creating a more conducive environment for manufacturing to be competitive and how to provide a stable and competitive environment policy legislative and regulatory environment.
“The mining industry needs to focus on growing globally competitive mining companies, to facilitate the investment into South Africa as the National Development Plan talks about,” Teke said.
South Africa’s mining sector contributes 7.6% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 26% of merchandise exports, around 50% of mining and mining related merchandise in terms of exports, he said.
The mining industry also contributed 18.7% of the JSE market capitalisation and 14% to foreign direct investment in 2013.
The sector employs about 500 000 people and almost 1.3 million indirect employees.
