Photography by Jeremy Glyn
Prof Fred Cawood retired as director of the Wits Mining Institute. Leon Louw of AfricanMining.co.za interviewed him.
You have been actively involved in the mining industry even before Wits. What, would you say, were special moments that changed the trajectory of the South African mining industry during this time?
The mining industry today is much cleaner and safer than when I started my career. In South Africa, a lot has to do with the Mine Health and Safety Act, and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. Although aspects of these laws are often criticised, there is wide acknowledgement of their positive impact – firstly, in minimising mine health and safety risks, and secondly, in terms of integrating economic, social, and environmental requirements with the mineral licensing system. This would not have happened without the advent of democracy in South Africa, which was a special moment and particularly good fortune that it happened during my career.
In your vision, what does the ‘dream’ mine look like, 10 years from now?
Firstly, we must understand that mining is not a nice-to-have economic sector. Mining provides the essential raw materials and metals that are not only requested by you and me (through market demand) but are also vital for society’s survival. The ‘dream’ mine must meet the requirements of responsible mining, which are to bring the resources in the ground to people above the ground, for their benefit and without harm to the environment and society. Where there may be harm, appropriate measures must be introduced to mitigate and eliminate such harm.
In your opinion, do you think that South African mining is on the right path – especially in terms of exploration and developing new projects?
The statistics tell us that we are not on the right path, because there is not enough exploration to ensure a consistent stream of new mines being developed. In addition South Africa has poor service delivery, high unemployment, and below-par economic growth. But, were it not for the mining industry’s contribution to the economy in 2020, we would have been much worse off that year. So, mining is still important for South Africa.
However, we must not fool ourselves that mining can continue to do this. The truth is that 2020 was a good year for mining because of high commodity prices – and we know that the cycle will change.
Our law and policy framework needs improvement, so that we can attract more investment in new projects and new commodities. For this to happen, we must do what we did during the mid-1990s; we must get stakeholders together and debate the issues, to improve the investment framework in the broader context of responsible mining. I think it is time to measure the intention of the initial law and policy against its actual outcome, and to update our vision for mining and improve the law for the greater benefit of everyone.
© Minserv For more information contact: fred@minservcc.com