"With a price less than $ 50 per tonne or 50% less than a year ago the financial partners that we had found became cautious and ask us to wait," laments the Australian Giulio Caselo, the owner of Sundance, which is developing the project Mbalam Nabeba-two share deposits of iron sides of the border between Cameroon and Congo - Brazzaville. Originally scheduled mid-2015, work began mining railway project, a $ 3.5 billion, will be carried forward after 2016 .
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Mining Indaba
In Cape Town, the mineral make the round back pending the resumption
Thursday, February 12, 2015 4:30 p.m.
By
Christophe Le Bec
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Approximately 7,000 professionals visited in Cape Town, South Africa, for the 21st edition of Mining Indaba. DR
The 21st edition of Mining Indaba, meeting place of the mining industry in Africa, it ends on February 12 in South Africa. If bad mining conditions have sealed the morale of many profesionals who have traveled to some of them, it carries opportunities.
The atmosphere was rather gloomy at this
21st edition of the Mining Indaba , which began Feb. 9 and ends on February 12, 2015. On that virtually all lips of the few mining professionals from Cape Town, the same question: "Classes Have they hit bottom? "
Everywhere, it is time for a drastic reduction in costs to try to preserve margins in the sector. So much so that even some "majors" of the sector as AngloGold, Glencore and Vale, whose leaders were present at Mining Indaba however, have made, unlike other years, the economy of a booth at this key industry event .
On almost everyone's lips, the same question: "Are the current hit bottom?"
At the forum, each speaker has mainly emphasized his talents as "cost-killer". "Between 2013 and 2014, we reduced our investments by 40% and decreased by 60% our exploration budgets," was well appreciated Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, CEO of the South African AngloGold, the third largest producer of gold and last world mining giant to be based in Johannesburg.
In iron, some moral is low. "With a price less than $ 50 per tonne or 50% less than a year ago the financial partners that we had found became cautious and ask us to wait," laments the Australian Giulio Caselo, the owner of Sundance, which is developing the project Mbalam Nabeba-two share deposits of iron sides of the border between Cameroon and Congo - Brazzaville. Originally scheduled mid-2015, work began mining railway project, a $ 3.5 billion, will be carried forward after 2016 .
>>> Read also: Mark Cutifani, a cost rectifier Anglo American
Same challenges at Rio Tinto, Simandou of mega driver in Guinea, which requires a total of 20 billion dollars of investment, of which 12 billion for the construction of the infrastructure alone. "In the current state of the course, we do not see how they will manage to find financial partners," observes the representative of a construction company consulted for the construction of the Guinean mining railway.
Still, this difficult situation is seen by some as an opportunity carrier. In gold companies like Randgold led by South African Mark Bristow and Nordgold Russian Nikolai Zelensky, which have proven reasonable in cost management, are on the lookout for acquisitions groups worse off that them in Francophone West Africa, where they are both already present.
Mines: this is the time to invest in Africa!
Imposing Indian delegation
Other players are also in ambush, particularly Indian groups, very well represented this year at Mining Indaba. "Our public and private groups seeking assets and partners in the industries of coal, manganese, zinc, copper, uranium, phosphates and gold," Naresh Kumar Égrenne, Secretary General of the Ministry of Mines present at Mining Indaba with his minister Narendra Singh Tomar and a large delegation from New Delhi.
"The representatives of National aluminum company (NALCO - producer of bauxite and aluminum), Hindustan Copper Limited (copper),
National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), but also Rashtriya Ispat (steel), Tata Steel (steel) and Gujrat Minerals came to the Cape of Africa to find opportunities, "he says.
Representatives
To attract new investors, most mineral rich countries of the continent, as usual, sent their Ministers of Mines Mining Indaba.
French side, the ministers presentation sessions Kerfalla Yansané of Guinea Kabwelulu Martin and DR Congo were particularly followed. The first wanted to assure investors of the decline of the Ebola outbreak in his country, saying "no employee of a mining group nor the inhabitants of the villages surrounding the projects [had] been infected with disease. "
Martin Kabwelulu has also wanted to address the concerns of industrialists who fear that the new Congolese Mining Code in preparation, will lead to higher local processing fees and bonds.
This égalmeent edition saw a renewed interest in the basement of Madagascar, represented by its Minister of Mines Joeli Valerian Lalaharisaina. The end of the political crisis on the Great Island is seen by some as a possible restart of non artisanal mining sector, particularly in the iron and precious stones.
Finally the 21st Mining Indaba was visited Tuesday, February 10 of former British Labour minister Tony Blair came to preach the "good word" mining groups. The former member of Parliament for Sedgefield, in the mining region of northern England, urged companies in the sector to strengthen their partnerships with states and local communities, particularly in countries where consultants of its foundation work , Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Christophe Le Bec, Special Envoy Cape
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