• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Tech

SA’s mining could still bridge unemployment gap – expert

January 10, 2018
Kleemann │ Interlinked PRO plant train impresses in the Caribbean

Kleemann │ Interlinked PRO plant train impresses in the Caribbean

January 27, 2023
EXPANDING THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF THE PDS

EXPANDING THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF THE PDS

January 19, 2023
advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT
2023 to Usher in Strong Growth in Mining and Industrial Private LTE Networks

2023 to Usher in Strong Growth in Mining and Industrial Private LTE Networks

January 19, 2023

Wirtgen South Africa holds annual dealer conference

January 17, 2023
Eriez-India Granted ISO 9001:2015 Certification

Eriez-India Granted ISO 9001:2015 Certification

January 13, 2023

Eurasian Resources Group and the University of Kolwezi develop curriculum to meet mining skills demand in the DRC

December 13, 2022

Another successful turnkey modular construction and transit solution from thyssenkrupp Uhde delivered to a key customer

December 13, 2022
Epiroc to acquire leading provider of collision avoidance systems for mines

Epiroc to acquire leading provider of collision avoidance systems for mines

December 13, 2022
New Cat® bolt-together buckets for underground loaders lower costs for assembly and transportation, reduce machine downtime

New Cat® bolt-together buckets for underground loaders lower costs for assembly and transportation, reduce machine downtime

December 11, 2022

EPSA and Immersive Technologies Partner in Global Mining Workforce Development

December 11, 2022

THE JUNIOR INDABA 2023

December 11, 2022
Atlas Copco and Reality Wellness celebrate their 20-year journey in putting employee well-being first

Atlas Copco and Reality Wellness celebrate their 20-year journey in putting employee well-being first

December 10, 2022
  • About AMB
  • Magazine Archive
  • Contacts
Friday, February 3, 2023
African Mining Brief
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
MAGAZINE ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
No Result
View All Result
African Mining Brief
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
Home Industry Analysis

SA’s mining could still bridge unemployment gap – expert

by Matimu Mahundla
January 10, 2018
in Industry Analysis, South Africa
0

A mine worker. REUTERS

491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By: Terence Corrigan

As the year begins, there is little for South Africa’s unemployed to celebrate. With an unemployment rate sitting at historic highs, and nothing in the country’s current growth trajectory – riding at below 1% – millions of South Africans lack not only work, but the prospect of finding any. This lethal combination of deprivation and retarded prospects constitutes the single biggest threat to the country’s future.

Mining is still an economic driver

If it is to face its unemployment malaise and all it implies, South Africa needs to harness its resources and competitive advantages. Historically, this has meant the country’s mineral endowments and its mining sector. Although the importance of mining to the economy has been in decline for decades, it remains an economic keystone. With trillions of dollars’ worth of minerals yet to be extracted, mining has the potential to be an economic driver for many years to come – and in so doing, a provider of jobs.

Stats SA’s most recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey (presenting data up to July to September 2017) records mining employment at some 446,000 people.

While small in proportion to overall employment in the economy – mining accounts for around 3%, if measured against recorded total employment for this period, or 5% if taken as a proportion of formal, non-agricultural work – this number is by no means insignificant. But the full impact of mining on employment in South Africa is arguably less in the numbers employed than in the type of employment it offers.

Social impact

Mining is one of the very few industries with a substantial, labour-absorbing demand for low-skilled workers. It is also an anchor industry that keeps many rural communities viable. It’s difficult to understate this. Some 14% of those employed in the North West, 11% in the Northern Cape and 7% in Limpopo are employed in the mining industry. Since the wages of each mineworker have been estimated to support as many as 10 people, the social impact of mining employment is vast.

Besides this, mines are voracious consumers of goods and services, with a corresponding impact on employment. The Chamber of Mines contends that ‘for every direct mining job, a further two indirect jobs are created in downstream and support industries’. The chamber estimated that, in 2016, it supported around 1.4 million such positions.

It is true that employment in mining today represents a substantial decline on the contribution that mining made in the past. In 1990, mining employed around 693,000 people in South Africa (this excludes the ‘independent’ homelands – as they existed at that point – so this number was probably larger). Between that point and the present, some 247,000 jobs (probably considerably more) disappeared. That is equivalent to a full third of the numbers in 1990.

But this decline need not be terminal. There has certainly been very little job growth in mining recently – and as the recent retrenchments in the industry illustrate, jobs in mining can be precarious. But South Africa’s mineral trove could be a significant asset going forward. For example, a recent study by the World Bank pointed to the numerous opportunities for mining in the future, given that many technologies geared towards low-carbon emissions are in fact more reliant on metals than current technologies. Resource suppliers such as South Africa would be well placed to take advantage of this.

Mining industry changing

Mining has the potential to remain a central contributor to South Africa’s economy, and with it, to providing jobs. But it is equally apparent that mining, and mining employment, is changing. As easily accessible mineral deposits are worked out, technological innovation is becoming ever more vital to the industry. Gradually, this is likely to alter the nature of the mining workforce. It will probably mean fewer workers as automation takes hold, with a growing demand for high-level skills. South Africa needs to understand this.

While mining will still be a job provider, it faces a strategic challenge to ensure an adequate pipeline of skills, something South Africa’s shaky education and training systems have not been able to do. In effect, if South Africa seeks to retain its mining industry, it will need a workforce that can meet the industry’s needs.

Investment and innovation

This is no small challenge. It calls for partnership and cooperation between the industry role players – government, industry, labour, communities and training institutions. This needs to go beyond a focus on skills and training to one of mindset. For the mining industry of the future will be one heavily dependent on investment and innovation; one in which its skilled personnel will be able to seek opportunities across the world.

Mining is capable of playing a significant role – both now and in the future – in addressing South Africa’s unemployment crisis. But employment in mining cannot be extricated from the health of the industry as a whole. Yet, too often, blundering regulation and hostility from officialdom have done great harm to the performance and prospects of the industry.

That South Africa largely lost the opportunities presented by the commodities boom of the previous decade should sound a warning; the chronic uncertainty around the Mining Charter – merely the latest expression of a long-standing impasse around policy – suggests it has not been heeded.

Tags: education and training systemsemploymentgovernmentMining CharterSouth Africa
Share196Tweet123Share49
Matimu Mahundla

Matimu Mahundla

Oct - Dec 2022 Magazine

  • About AMB
  • Magazine Archive
  • Contacts

© 2022 African Mining Brief I All Rights Reserved Powered by Clivo.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive

© 2022 African Mining Brief I All Rights Reserved Powered by Clivo.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In