Category: Miningweb
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Who digs Africa’s gold, who keeps it — and who could hold it?: Duarte da Silva
Africa now mines more gold than any other region on earth, yet almost none of the value stays on the continent, according to a new paper from Northbound Processing’s Dr Duarte da Silva. Roughly R580 billion worth of African gold is smuggled out undeclared each year, mostly to the UAE, while conflicts in Sudan and…
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Anglo American’s interims confirm the retreat from South Africa
Anglo American’s 2026 interim results to end June, released today, reflected a strong operational performance — underlying EBITDA up 35% to $4 billion, free cash flow up 149%, and the dividend up almost three fold — driven almost entirely by copper. But beneath the good numbers sits a continuing retreat from South Africa: Anglo confirmed…
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FT: Kenya’s sacred Mrima Hill sits on a rare-earth fortune the US, China and Australia all want
Seven mining consortiums, American, Chinese and Australian, are now shortlisted to dig into Mrima Hill, a sacred kaya on Kenya’s coast holding a $62bn stash of niobium, neodymium and radioactive thorium. For the Digo people who’ve guarded the site for generations, it’s not a resource, it’s their Tree of Souls. The stakes stretch well beyond…
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Dr Duarte da Silva: SA gold mine owners’ windfall funded departure from Reef
Gold’s richest run ever handed South Africa’s mining majors record windfalls — AngloGold’s earnings nearly tripled to $2.7bn, Gold Fields’ to $3.57bn. In Part II of his Gold Papers series, Dr Duarte da Silva tracks where that cash actually went: Harmony spent $1.01bn on Australian copper rather than the uranium already sitting in its own…
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GEM Bill promises mining revival as SA’s investment appeal fades: Terence Corrigan
South Africa’s mining sector, once the backbone of the economy, is facing a steady decline despite holding an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral resources. The Institute of Race Relations argues that policy uncertainty, slow licensing processes, BEE requirements, and bureaucratic obstacles have driven investors away and slashed exploration spending. Its proposed GEM Bill would introduce…
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Dr Duarte da Silva: Wits Basin isn’t just Gold galore — it’s got a lot of valuable Uranium too
The latest report in Dr Duarte da Silva’s Gold Papers series says the Witwatersrand is one of the world’s great uranium provinces hiding in plain sight. An estimated 600,000 tonnes of uranium sit on surface in the region’s gold tailings, a by-product discarded for decades while prices were too low to justify recovery. With uranium…
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The gold did not run out — the owners did: Duarte da Silva’s devastating case against SA’s mining abandonment
South African gold output has fallen by roughly nine-tenths from its peak while the dollar price has multiplied more than twenty-fold — from a 1999 low near $255 to a January-2026 record above $5,500, before easing back toward $4,000 by mid-year. The decline of the deep mines was real and, on its own terms, correctly…
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Anthea Jeffery: Botswana beats SA at its own game — here’s how to fix Mining
South Africa ranks 64th out of 68 mining jurisdictions on policy attractiveness, according to the Fraser Institute’s 2025 Annual Survey — despite possessing one of the richest mineral endowments on earth. Neighbouring Botswana, with far less mineral wealth, ranks second in the world. The Institute of Race Relations has responded with its Growth and Employment…
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Once again, SA is watching the world’s mining boom from the sidelines
South Africa sits atop extraordinary mineral wealth — over 80% of global PGM reserves, 70% of the world’s manganese, and a critical logistics gateway for African lithium. Yet as the energy transition supercharges demand for exactly these minerals, SA is squandering its inheritance. A hostile regulatory environment, insecure mineral rights, and crumblinginfrastructure have pushed investors…
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From 2,000 companies to 11: How ANC policy is killing South Africa’s 160-year diamond industry
South Africa’s diamond mining industry, which sparked the country’s entire industrial economy 160 years ago, is approaching final-stage collapse. The DA Shadow Mining Minister, James Lorimer, explains below how the alluvial sector has shrunk from 2,000 companies and 25,000 workers to just 11 operators employing fewer than 1,000 people since the MPRDA was enacted in…
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Anthea Jeffery: SA mining is “uninvestable” — the rational plan to save it
Key topics: GEM Bill proposes replacing MPRDA with investor-friendly reforms IRR seeks to scrap BEE rules and boost mining investment New bill strengthens property rights and legal certainty By Anthea Jeffery* South Africa’s mining industry is becoming “uninvestable.” The country has among the most valuable mineral endowments in the world, but is nevertheless battling to…