Exploration is vital to keep mining going and, although Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has expressed concern about many mine shafts being put on care and maintenance, Minerals Council South Africa is correct to point out that the real setback for the future sustainability of South African mining is the lack of exploration investment, despite the many exploration rights that have been dished out.

The backing off from South Africa as an exploration investment destination in the immediate term was driven home forcefully during last week’s presentation of interim financial results by Anglo American.

It was a serious reality check when Anglo CE Mark Cutifani, who oozes friendliness towards South Africa, flashed a slide onto computer screens of those taking part in the company’s webcast to point out where Anglo was exploring.

The company, to its credit, continued to engage in greenfield exploration and technical innovation even through the tough times of 2015 and 2016 – but not in South Africa, the land of its birth.

All that could be seen about exploration in South Africa on the slide was brownfield exploration at the Mogalakwena platinum mine, in Limpopo.

Otherwise, South Africa failed to feature in Anglo’s list of prospective districts in diversified geographies. Clearly, Anglo is on the hunt for copper, which, in some districts, comes with cobalt and in others with gold.

That there is copper in the Northern Cape is well known, because Anglovaal was there and in its tracks is emerging mining company Orion Minerals.

If any company would have been well aware of that, it would have been Anglo, yet it is refusing to seize obvious opportunities until it is certain that investor friendliness returns.

These days, the company cleverly allows its innovation and technology team under Tony O’Neill to decide the company’s approach to exploration, which is characterised by large regional positions – as Orion has brilliantly secured in the area around Prieska – and what Cutifani calls “key geographies”, with value becoming the kernel of its exploration endeavours.

What it waxed lyrical about during the webcast was its six-hole copper/gold exploration foray at Uniao, in Brazil, which enabled it to peg out a possible porphyry land position, which, in Cutifani’s words, is “five times the size of Kent”, the English county that covers an area bigger than 3 700 km2.

Even though Zambia features in 10 000 km2 of exploration effort, it is really South America where most of Anglo’s exploration activity is taking place.

In addition to Brazil, it is also securing a prime position in Ecuador and is continuing to drill in Peru, where it is about to embark on the 30-year-life Quellaveco copper mine project in partnership with Mitsubishi.

South Africa is down to 26% of Anglo’s portfolio, already only a single percentage point above Brazil.

Chile, Peru and Colombia make up 19% of the portfolio, which already puts South America on a par – at 44% – with Southern Africa, where Anglo is also in Botswana and Namibia.

That comes as quite a shock, given that Anglo was overwhelmingly South African for most of its 101 years.