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Mining Indaba 2026: What’s new? By Dr Ross Harvey, director of research and programmes at Good Governance Africa (GGA)
It’s that time of year again in the Mining World. Of the expected 10 000 delegates, not a small number will be hot off the heels of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) in Saudi. The FMF is quickly becoming the platform that is seen as truly meaningful. Mining is a long game with long lead times requiring long capital. Global markets, to the contrary, want quick returns. Saudi and other gulf states are offering something more synergistic for miners – a long view. In an increasingly polarised world, with geopolitics as fraught as it is with tension, players in the mining game are increasingly asking whether the Cape Town Indaba is worth attending. Of course, the answer is likely to be “yes” for the foreseeable future, not only because Cape Town is the best city in the world (I’m biased – I live here), but because the conversations happening at the Indaba remain relevant (if a little repetitive).
Diversification of supply chains to minimise disruption risk literally creates opportunities in those product’s value chains.
T his year, the theme will be “Stronger together: Progress through partnerships.” The associate press release indicates that this “reflects the urgent need for collaboration across the continent to fast-track untapped growth opportunities across the entire mining value chain and unlock downstream industrialisation industries.” The agenda is structured accordingly, and two themes are worth focusing on here: First up is a conversation called “From extraction to innovation: Leveraging Africa’s resource wealth for diversification and development”. The big idea is to “identify and brainstorm actionable policy and regulatory frameworks that better enable African governments to leverage their mineral wealth
– shifting from traditional commodity extraction to a more diversified, complex economic model. It will explore how African countries can move beyond simple resource extraction to build economic complexity through industrialisation, technological innovation and advanced manufacturing.” It’s an important – if perennial – conversation. I have been working within the broad ambit of this topic since 2009. Not much has changed in respect of African countries’ abilities to attract investment into manufacturing capacity, never mind “advanced manufacturing” connected to national resource endowments. Mining investors themselves have gone through cycles of hibernation when the conversation appeared to be veering towards ‘resource nationalism’ – states legislating in a
Dr Ross Harvey, director of research and programmes at Good Governance Africa (GGA)
58 MODERN MINING www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | February 2026
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