The 2020 Investing in Africa Mining Indaba entered into its second day on Tuesday, with a focus on a transition from coal towards renewable and clean energey resources to deal with power shortage in the continent.
Speaking at the world's largest mining investment conference, Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA), said the MCSA fully supports a transition from coal to non-fossil fuel forms of power generation such as wind and solar power and, where cost is not prohibitive, nuclear power.
However, he said his council also acknowledges that cleaner coal power generation is possible and some headway has already been made as a result of newer power plants coming on stream, amid the impending closure of older plants associated with historically large emissions.
These new power stations represent an enormous investment, he said, adding that it would be economically crippling to simply shut down coal-powered stations.
"When we refer to a just transition, we mean that there are technical, social and economic grounds for a gradual, rather than an immediate move away from coal," Baxter said.
For the foreseeable future in South Africa, coal remains a necessity as the baseload source of power even with the expansion of renewables, according to Baxter.
A further key factor is the communities and employees whose livelihoods depend on coal mining, he said.
In countries where policy decisions have been made to eliminate coal power, compensation for this loss of revenue to affected businesses and communities is significant, said Baxter.
"So much of what South Africa produces is connected to coal," Baxter told the audience. "It is the largest component of mining by sales value and is a critically important source of the primary energy that drives the economy."
The coal mining sector employs close to 100,000 people in South Africa.
South Africa is currently grappling with a power crisis which necessitates constant rolling blackouts affecting all industries, including the mining sector.
It was against this backdrop that Baxter was calling on the government to fast-track legislation that makes it possible for mining companies to generate their own power, including the more than 600MW of solar power projects already in the pipeline that will contribute further to a reduction in the industry's combined carbon footprint.
On Monday, South Africa's Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe told the conference that mining companies in the country are allowed to generate their own energy to deal with energy constraints and that the government would engage investors about possibly establishing another energy supply company seperate from state-run electricity utility Eskom.
"We were pleased to hear Minister Gwede Mantashe's undertakings in this regard," Baxter said.
The five-day conference brought together representatives from 94 countries, including more than 38 ministers, under the theme "Optimising Growth and Investment in the Digitized Mining Economy."
The delegates were exploring how the mining industry can be supported to drive investment in a changing technological landscape.
Editor:Cherie
