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Unsurprisingly, one of the strengths of SAs mining industry identified by the DMRE is the countrys mineral endowments, as well as the range of such minerals. Equally unsurprising, the weaknesses identified include energy instability, road and rail infrastructure challenges, as well as unsatisfactory policy implementation. These identified weaknesses appear not to have gone unnoticed by investors, as SAs exploration budget has seen a decrease from $400m in 2007 to under $100m in 2018, with its share of global exploration budgets decreasing to about 1%.

To capitalise on the countrys mineral wealth, the DMRE has outlined strategic initiatives and actions to be undertaken to encourage mining exploration. These include improvements in the countrys geoscience data and information, government support to junior exploration companies and the formation of private-public partnerships with junior exploration companies, and a national investment drive.

The vision espoused by the strategy document is to secure a minimum of a 5% share in global exploration investment within a five-year period. This would be an impressive feat indeed, as SA would arguably be required to drastically improve its attractiveness, or perceptions of its attractiveness, as a mining destination to achieve the desired 4% increase in its share of global exploration investment.

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