The SAMMRI Steering Committee and Founding Members;
The Chairman, Mr Johan Theron of Impala Platinum;
Prof. Cyril O'Connor, Director of the Centre for Minerals Research at the University of Cape Town (UCT);
Prof. Francis Petersen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at UCT;
Prof. Jean-Paul Franzidis and Dr David Deglon of UCT;
Prof. Roelf Sandenbergh of the University of Pretoria;
Prof. Phuti Ngoepe of the University of Limpopo;
Prof. Andre Burger of Stellenbosch University;
Dr Victor Ross of Lonmin;
Mr Marinus du Plessis of Exarro;
Mr July Ndolvu of Anglo Platinum and Dr Neville Plint of Anglo Platinum;
Mr Mike Halhead, formerly of Anglo Platinum;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Let me start by thanking you for the invitation that was sent to the Director-General to address you on this very important occasion. Unfortunately an urgent meeting was called for by the Economic Cluster of Directors-General and he had no option but to make himself available.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have come a long way since our first discussions in 2007 around a partnership between industry, government and local research providers to advance the minerals processing industry. I am proud of the vision, efforts and energy displayed by all role players in making this collaboration possible, particularly the efforts of the SAMMRI Steering Committee whose members I mentioned earlier.
In fulfilling our Science and Technology mission and vision, as a department, we have accepted that we will not be able to do everything ourselves and we therefore place a high value on meaningful strategic partnerships. For the partnership to work it is crucial that each partner fully understands and delivers on its commitment to making the partnership work. As Prof. Wole Soboyejo of Princeton once observed: "Science and technology is proposed as the engine of economic growth ... business and industry are the drivers, government is the catalytic converter and academics are the fuel".
Prof. Soboyejo's observation resonates with our thinking that South Africa's capacity to engage in meaningful innovation will depend on a number of variables. One critical variable is the role of the state. In this context, we see our role as including ‑
- the creation of a conducive policy and legislative environment;
- the provision of support for and engagement in relevant research; and
- the creation of opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration between local and global partners.
These and other interventions by the Department of Science and Technolgy (DST) and other relevant government departments are necessary for many reasons. First, they will ensure that South Africa has the necessary scientific and technical knowledge to exploit its mineral wealth more intelligently.
Second, they will enable us to increase our human capital base, particularly the production of high-end skills and the participation of designated groups in the production of new knowledge and discovery solutions.
Third, they will also go a long way in enhancing our capacity to produce cutting-edge technologies for mining and related activities.
And fourth, these interventions by the state and its various agencies will put us in a position to increase our economic output, enhance our global competitiveness and, ultimately, improve the quality of our people's lives.
It would perhaps be useful to take a moment to reflect on the mining industry's contribution to our economy. The mining industry has been crucial to the economic development of South Africa, in both historical and contemporary terms. In real terms its contribution amounts to between 15% and 20% of South Africa's GDP, including goods and services provided to the industry and the value-added beneficiation of mining outputs. This sector is evidently both a major employer and a major contributor to the country's export revenues.
Earlier this year, CitiBank conducted a mining survey which rated South Africa as the richest mineral resource holder in the world. Whether we are optimally exploiting these reserves for the benefit of the economy and broader society in an environmentally sustainable way remains in question. To some extent this is the reason we have come together as an industry-government collective, as the South African Minerals to Metals Initiative, SAMMRI.
To a very large extent, the mining industry has driven the technological development of South Africa over the last century, with advances achieved mostly through government and industry-supported research programmes. Regrettably, most of these research facilities and institutions have closed over the past 30 years, as have many similar facilities around the world. As a result, the current South African expenditure on research and development in the mining sector is minimal. In 2008/09 the expenditure on R&D in quarrying and mining in South Africa amounted to R578 million, about 3% of Gross Expenditure on R&D. In the same year, Australia's expenditure on mining research and development was 25% of their GERD, or R30 billion, nearly equal to their R&D expenditure in the manufacturing sector. We may have larger reserves but we are not investing enough in R&D.
The decrease in research and development in the mining industry, and the recent and ongoing closure of research facilities, should be of great concern to all of us, particularly as it is coupled with increasing pressure to extract metals profitably from progressively lower-grade ore bodies, rising costs, and increasingly challenging safety and environmental issues, in a climate in which skills are becoming increasingly harder to acquire.
DST is therefore committed to SAMMRI as it seeks to promote long-term cutting-edge research in the area of mining and minerals processing. The development of world-class technologies and high-level engineering and scientific competence are urgently needed in this area to ensure that South Africa's mineral processing industry remains internationally competitive and assumes a technological global leadership position.
In some our early meetings with industry, as SAMMRI was being designed, we learnt that the mining sector was not able to exploit the R&D tax incentive that DST administers. I am able to inform you that DST has approached the tax authorities, the National Treasury, and we are working on a revised guideline that will respond in some way to this problem on what R&D is defined as eligible. I am also pleased to report that we will be making good progress before the financial year ends in establishing the National Programmes on Powder Metallurgy Research and Computational Process-Modelling Research. These will be university based national programmes. The DST has already provided funds for them.
I must also urge the SAMMRI Board to engage with the new institution that the DST has established for promoting innovation, that is the Technology Innovation Agency. I am sure many of you read the article in the Sunday Times by the Chairperson of TIA, Dr Mmaphele Ramphele. From that article I gather that you have a champion for growth and development of the mining sector.
It is interesting that many of the universities represented here today, the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg, have their roots in the School of Mines established in Kimberley in 1896. It is pleasing that there are strong minerals and metals departments at these institutions, and that other minerals and metals-related courses are now established at several other institutions of higher learning in South Africa.
The DST would like to urge research institutions to submit proposals and become involved in SAMMRI's pilot research programme. We have provided a grant of R900 000 as a contribution to postgraduate bursaries for students who will be recruited to carry out research on projects as part of the pilot programme.
Ladies and gentlemen, the success of the South African minerals and metals industry in the past has been due to its people. There is no doubt that the future holds challenges and rewards for new generations choosing one of the many careers that the minerals and metals industries have to offer. We must do our best to popularise career opportunities in this sector among our country's young people, and ensure that we also increase access to the sector for previously excluded sections of our society.
In closing, I would like once again to acknowledge the support and interest of the mining industry, in particular Anglo American, Impala Platinum, Lonmin, Exarro and Anglo Gold Ashanti, who have taken the lead and agreed to fund the pilot project for a period of two years. We hope that, on the basis of the outcome of the pilot phase, this funding will be extended and increased in order to sustain and grow SAMMRI.
The department remains committed to creating a climate conducive to the discovery and application of scientific, technological and innovative solutions to the challenges facing the mining and mineral processing sectors. And we further believe that, the establishment of SAMMRI is a valuable contribution towards our efforts to build a society that is both equitable and economically competitive.
I therefore have no doubt that we can look to the future with increased optimism.
I thank you.
