Junior Indaba set to stimulate junior mining sector

The strategic importance of exploration and junior mining in Africa will be given centre stage at Resources 4 Africa's 2015 Junior Indaba. High on the agenda will be the global capital crisis and the much needed new and innovative global solutions.

CEOs and project owners will be able to showcase assets at the event, whilst investors will be able to assess the merits of the offerings and investment opportunities.

Investors will be able to hear how companies are performing in various African countries such as Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana across commodity sectors including bulk commodities, base metals, industrial minerals, gold, precious metals, diamonds and PGMs amongst others.

The Junior Indaba will also be taking a much closer look at how international mining economies have created thriving junior sectors and form debates on what needs to be done to best promote growth and development in Africa. In short answers will be sought on why Africa is not getting more of the global exploration spend.

Managing Director of the MSA Group's Keith Scott is also throwing his weight behind the new event as the lead sponsor "Africa's mineral endowment is exceptional with large tracts of the continent unexplored. Economic and political development in Sub Sahara Africa is opening up new opportunities for exploration and mining. It's vital that we understand and share what is needed to foster exploration, so we can develop a framework to best promote investment and stimulate the junior mining sector, and therefore create a better environment for new entrants".

"The need for better representation for the junior sector in South Africa was a message that came across loud and clear at our flagship event, the 2014 Joburg Indaba, and one that was endorsed by the Minister of the DMR, Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi," says Paula Munsie, CEO, Resources 4 Africa.

The call has come for Juniors to be better organised and represented in dialogues between industry, government and labour.

Bernard Swanepoel, chairperson of the highly successful annual Joburg Indaba event strongly believes "it is the Junior sector that can unlock the potential of the minerals under the ground, but this sector of the industry has not been properly organised and represented. Nor do I believe there has been a tax regime sufficiently investor friendly to the high risk dollars that are required for exploration."

The performance of junior to mid-tier mining companies currently in production will be clearly in the spotlight. Organisers have raised the bar and offered free access to active investors to the inaugural Junior Indaba event.

For more, go to www.juniorindaba.com