I was invited to attend the 2024 London Indaba, which I attended remotely. It was an honor to be invited as a journalist (and certainly easier on the pocketbook).
The Indaba event has most often been conducted in South Africa. For this event it occurred in London. The speakers and panelists were largely mining corporate executives, government officials and people from some of the engineering houses. It was an impressive list of presenters who primarily spoke on the challenges and successes, lessons learned and keys to successful operations in the future of mining in Africa.
Africa has an incredible wealth of natural resources, and mining, done well, can help many of the African nations to modernize and to help lift up their economic outlook, the direct impact and trickledown which would include improved infrastructure, health care, education, nutrition of those nations and so forth.
Presenters spoke on a wide range of topics, such as the role of recycling in a growing economy and about making JVs successful by treating like you would treat any other relationship.
As with other parts of the world, there is a shortage of engineers available to the African mining industry. One presented indicated that it’s possible to use engineers from similar industries, such as the pulp and paper industry, as their education and portions of their experiences are directly applicable to the mining industry.
The conference was only two days long, so it was over nearly before it started. It was a pleasure to attend, and I hope I am invited to the next one.