Every Friday, SAfm speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly, hosted this Friday by radio anchor Jon Gericke. Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Gericke: Expanding South Africa’s bulk minerals exports can quickly increase employment to 500 000 direct jobs.

Creamer: Minerals Council South Africa has done a study to show that without much effort, South Africa can lift the jobs in the bulk mineral sector to 500 000. Now, that is close to 41 000 more than we have got at the moment, without much effort. We are talking here about iron-ore, we’re talking about coal, we’re talking about manganese, chrome and ferrochrome.

Particularly with coal, they pointed out that the private sector part of it, which is Richards Bay Coal Terminal, has a capacity for 91-million tonnes. At the moment South Africa will be lucky if we achieve 50-million tonnes. Last year, we got 78-million tonnes. So the capacity on the rail is what is lacking and that is the State-controlled side of it. If there is a collaboration there, Minerals council South Africa calculates that South Africa can win with the various coal, iron-ore, manganese, chrome and ferrochrome upliftments, another R151-billion worth of extra export revenue. This is a flick-of-the-finger type of approach that can happen quickly.

We must realise that for every export rand we get, 19% goes to the fiscus as tax. So it is a benefit all round. Although there is a strike on at the moment, I think strikers should realise the full potential that can be for them, and they can have more people employed, which will help the economy and help the unions as well.

Gericke: South Africa takes 354 days to issue an exploration right compared with Botswana, which does it in 40 days.

Creamer: We are doing so badly in exploration that we have fallen behind Cameroon, fallen behind Mozambique, fallen behind Zimbabwe. We are hopelessly behind Zambia. We are falling behind everyone. I mean, if you look at Botswana, they can give you a mining license and exploration license and prospecting license in 40 days.

They have got a thing called a cadastre, which you can go to from your desktop and see what's going on. South Africa takes 354 days and normally at the end of it they say to you it has gone to someone else, because they haven't even got a proper record. Now, the proudly South African company that originally proposed the cadastre approach to all  these now successful African countries, was cold-shouldered by South Africa itself. South Africa spurned what all the other African states latched on to on the basis that the department could do better itself. We can set up the system ourselves, South Africa said. But the system set up is hopeless. Now, the department called for tenders and they said okay, we will resurrect ourselves. We will set up a cadastre as they call it.

They put out the tenders and this company which has now helped Botswana and all the countries has walked away from South Africa’s tender, because it can't understand the terms of reference. So ,you know, how hopeless can you get when you fall this far behind? South  Africa needs to shake itself up because the exploration business represents low-hanging economic fruit that generates immediate activity in the prospecting field, which South Africa needs desperately.

Gericke: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly and he will be back at the same time next week.