Growth and economic transformation go hand in hand says Minerals Council

The right regulatory environment is required to promote the twin imperatives of growth in the mining sector and economic transformation.

This was the message from Paul Dunne, President of the Minerals Council of South Africa, in his keynote address at the 2025 Joburg Indaba. He went on to say that growth and transformation were inextricably linked, adding “we can’t have one without the other and we need a stable, predictable regulatory environment that promotes both.”

Such an environment, according to Dunne, breeds a mining industry that “attracts local and international capital for the development of new mines and the expansion of existing operations.

He reminded his audience of mining stakeholders that their sector employs 465 000 and uplifts communities through enterprise and supplier development programmes. “Often mining companies step in to provide services and infrastructure that failing or dysfunctional municipalities are not delivering.”

Dunne criticised the South African government’s Minerals Amendment Bill as not encouraging or sustaining the growth and investment mining needs.

The draft bill, which is currently at public hearings stage, seeks to formalise artisanal mining, strengthen environmental and community consultation, promote mineral beneficiation, and enhance regulatory certainty for investors.

As part of the public consultation process the Minerals Council has submitted its concerns and is keen to further engage government on the bill.

Dunne highlighted the mining sector’s “significant contributions” despite “headwinds of a difficult operating and regulatory environment” to “address historical injustices”. He cited Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, who is expected to close the Joburg Indaba, and who often stated that mining “is the most transformed sector in our economy”.

“Given the contribution that mining makes to the national economy, to employees and communities, it’s not difficult to understand why the Minerals Council is so emphatic about the need for a regulatory and operating environment that attracts investment and encourages and sustains growth,” Dunne concluded.