Mantashe to ease investors at Mining Indaba

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy will be responsible for attracting domestic and international investors next week as we head into the annual Mining Indaba week. This year's Mining Indaba will focus on the ways Africa can enhance the opportunity to increase the supply of green metals to meet global energy demands, while creating meaningful value for communities.

Mantashe has over the years been arguably the best minister for Renewables, as he has single handedly procured more solar and Wind MW through the bid windows, more than any other Minister of Energy in the history of South Africa. This is displayed by the amount of renewable energy procured through the bid windows:

• Bid window 5 which procured 2583MW and Bid window 6 which planned to install 4200MW of REIPPs(Bid window 5 and 6 occurred under the leadership of Minister Mantashe).

• Bid window 7 plans to install 5000MW of REIPPs onto the grid, furthermore; renewables capacity is expected to be increased by 18% by 2030 and coal capacity reduced by 15% according to the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 signed by Minister Mantashe.

A ‘Minerals for Climate Action’ report, released by the World Bank in 2022, estimates that demand for green metals will increase exponentially by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. This significant boost in demand for minerals and metals will mean that mineral-rich developing countries, like South Africa are perfectly positioned for the Just Energy Transition led by Minister Mantashe.

The high potential of our natural gas deposits especially in Block 11B/12B in the Paddavissie Fairway are indicators of a country with high potential and play a critical role in moving from a high carbon emitting economy to a low carbon emitting economy. The Paddavissie Fairway contains an estimated 3.4 trillion ft³ of gas and 192mn bl of condensate, which is sufficient to provide a steady gas supply of around 500mn ft³/d over 15 years.

With all of these attractive developments and a Transnet which is set to be turning around under the capable leadership of Portia Derby our Achilles heel seems to be Eskom. Eskom has over the years had a direct negative impact on the economy and especially the youth across all spectrums. For example the best Mining school in Africa at Wits has had to deal with rolling blackouts over the past year. Wits University spends R150 000 on diesel for every hour of load shedding which translated to nearly R500 million in 2022.and students are forced to cover these exorbitant costs through fee increments.

Despite these endless woes the South African government seems to be on the right track and can confidently attract investors as Eskom is set to be placed under the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy which will allow for improved policy alignment and a clear implementation plan.

The youth across South Africa is longing for a solution to the crisis we are facing at Eskom, Mantashes level headed approach will insure Eskom is turned around whilst keeping it away from vicious shrewd businessmen who seek to profit from the demise of our power utility.

Written by :

Aphiwe Mnyamana ( WITS SRC President) &

Lwazi Ntombela ( Vice President of SAYEC)