Deputy Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Phumzile Mgcina has said South Africa’s mining industry is on the rise, citing significant untapped mineral potential across the country.
Mgcina addressed the South Africa Exploration Investment Forum, held on the sidelines of the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday.
She said the Council for Geoscience (CGS) is mandated to quantify the inherent value of South Africa’s mineral wealth across a range of strategic mineral commodities.
“This work is already pointing to significant untapped mineral potential, thus reinforcing our message that South African mining is a sunrise industry. That is not being theoretical but realistic. This is being demonstrated through the success of projects supported under the Junior Mining Exploration Fund (JMEF),” she said.
The JMEF forms part of South Africa’s mineral exploration strategy aimed at attracting exploration investment, reigniting mineral development and accelerating new mineral discoveries.
The first window of applications saw some R160 million allocated to eligible applicants, while the second window has attracted 80 applications.
Mgcina said one project in Bothaville, Free State, has advanced into an intensive drilling phase targeting rare earth elements and associated minerals. Two projects in the Northern Cape are scheduled to commence drilling this year, while at least four other projects are in the early stages of mapping and acquiring geophysical and geochemical datasets.
“Together, these projects confirm that South Africa’s subsurface potential is, indeed, far from fully understood and realised,” she said.
The fund has received commitments reaching over R2 billion, marking a significant increase from the initial R400 million contributed by the department and the Industrial Development Corporation.
The second round of applications attracted 80 submissions targeting minerals including tin, tungsten, titanium, uranium, gold, antimony, arsenic, fluorspar, copper and lithium.
Mgcina said the CGS has launched the Virtual Core Library, which she described as a strategic national asset designed to transform how South Africa extracts value from its geological assets.
“This initiative is poised to advance our mining industry into an era of digital transformation. By enabling the digital preservation and analysis of historical drill core, the library will fast-track exploration decision-making, reduce costs and enhance South Africa’s competitiveness as an exploration destination,” she said.
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