Our Business Development Manager, Jani van Rensburg, recently attended the annual Joburg Indaba in Johannesburg on October 8th and 9th, 2025, a critical platform for discussions shaping the future of South African mining. While the industry faces undeniable headwinds, the overall sentiment was one of cautious optimism, underpinned by a shared African tenacity to overcome challenges.

Image: Jani van Rensburg, VBKOM Business Development Manager, attending the 2025 Joburg Indaba

Here’s a breakdown of the critical discussions and key takeaways:

The Power of People and Potential

South Africa is blessed with critical mineral endowments, ideally located ports, and a wealth of skills and expertise in the Mining Industry. Crucially, Jani noted a powerful human element: the people of South Africa are resilient, and the leaders of key mining industry players are deeply committed to making things work. There is a palpable willingness to rise after challenges, refine the approach, and keep driving toward success. This shared desire for success is a potent asset, but it needs the right environment to flourish.

The Three Major Roadblocks: Electricity, Logistics, and Legislation

The core message from the Indaba was clear: South Africa's ability to compete with first-world mining nations like Canada, Finland and the US to name a few, is being held back by three interconnected issues: sufficient electricity supply, logistics to get our ore to the ports and outdated mining legislation.

The conversations highlighted that African countries, Morocco and Zambia, who are acting fast by changing their mining legislation to bolster global investment and starting to enjoy the results thereof by ranking 11^th and 12^th respectively in the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies. These are the nations that are positioning themselves to compete on the global stage, while South Africa risks falling behind (in 39^th place) without urgent regulatory reform.

The continued struggles with insufficient electricity were also a topic of various discussions, with supply to mines and refining hubs hampered by the lack infrastructure and inability to push renewable energy into the grid mentioned as points of frustration.

Lastly, there is a glimmer of hope for South African logistics, and it is brought by Transnet CEO, Advocate Michelle Phillips, who is the driving force behind the improvements of the rail network over the past year. A lot of hard work remains to be done, but the plan is clear and there is strong collaboration between government, state-owned entity and the private sector to enable the necessary reforms within the logistics sector.

Image: Joburg Indaba 2025

Image: Joburg Indaba 2025 Panel Discussion

PGMs and Critical Minerals: The Future is Now

Critical minerals remain a relevant topic for the mining industry, and South Africa is well positioned in that is produces 12 of the 54 minerals on the US critical minerals list.

This leads to the crucial question facing the industry: How can South Africa make itself globally relevant again through its critical minerals?

The PGM industry is committed to expanding their operations, with various capital- and expansion projects noted from the panel discussion with the CEO’s of Implats, Valterra and Sibanye, especially with the high commodity prices of the past quarter. Unlocking the potential of PGMs, Chrome and Manganese, is seen as the key to putting South Africa on the map as a dominant global supplier. To do this, the industry needs a stable power supply and a regulatory framework that encourages, rather than hinders, massive investment in these strategic resources.

The Bottom Line - African Tenacity the Key to Success?

The Joburg Indaba 2025 provided a moment for reflection, honesty, and strategic planning. While the challenges of power instability, struggling logistics and legislative bottlenecks are significant, the glimmers of hope are visible.

South Africa possesses all the inherent ingredients for success; world-class endowments, vital ports, and a positive, skilled workforce; its mining sector remains hampered by the urgent need for reliable electricity, reliable and modernized legislation. Ultimately, the cautious optimism at the Indaba is rooted in the deep-seated African tenacity to succeed, recognizing that unlocking this mineral wealth requires immediate, collaborative action to remove infrastructure and regulatory barriers.