Johannesburg - Mark Bristow, the chief executive of London-listed Randgold Resources yesterday pulled no punches and came short of calling the mining industry dishonest over its lack of sharing the spoils of mining operations with communities.
Addressing domestic investors at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Bristow said the industry should deliver on its promises of upliftment to communities.
Read: Randgold knocked by falling gold prices
“All those miners are mining national assets without returns, that is a waste of government assets. We must be more diligent in creating profitable business. We must be honest with host communities so they know the risks of mining.”
The mining industry was under further pressure to share the spoils with host communities, especially amid the downward commodity price cycle, which has seen mining companies go bust because the appetite for resource from China had slowed.
Mark Cutifani, the chief executive Anglo American, said the industry needed to improve relationships.
“Everybody needs to work towards a solution. We need to understand our communities and connect,” Cutifani said.
Central theme
The need for making natural resources was a central theme on the second day of the Alternative Indaba, also in Cape Town, and attended by more than 300 members of civil organisations from 39 countries.
Delegates at the Alternative Indaba, which is focused on communities, can benefit from mining operations.
Mining communities were calling for recognition, for example, they wanted small-scale mining to be decriminalised.
“Let us not look at artisanal and small-scale miners as criminals. You never hear that a gold mining company has declared substantial gold yields. But in the community if someone gets 18 kilograms of gold you can feel it,” said Mukasiri Sibanda, a project officer from the Zimbabwe Law Association.
He also said mining firms should pay their fair share of taxes.
“It is important to realise that mining is a unique sector because it exploits public assets, if people are not benefiting why do mining.
“Mining should be used as a liberator. Europe and all developed countries have grown opportunities through exploiting resources in Africa.
“We need to ask ‘do we have laws, policies, institutions that can support accountability and support of citizens?’ Knowing the quality and quantity of mineral assets – the issue of geo-scientific data as a continent is at the heart of the African mining vision so we can get maximum benefits for our mineral resources”
Mike Fraser, the chief operations officer at South32’s Africa region, said on the sidelines of the Indaba that mining companies paid taxes.
“The taxes don’t trickle to the communities where mines are located,” said Fraser.
He also said mining houses were meeting their social plans, and the government was struggling to ensure natural resources benefited communities.
“There is a leadership problem when it comes to organising communities. There is an opportunity for us to better align the spheres of government. We have local, provincial and national governments. Why do companies have to be involved in all these spheres of government,?” asked Fraser.
On Monday, speakers at the Alternative Indaba blamed mining companies for not adhering to social and labour plans which was aimed at addressing the apartheid legacy.
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