Comparison Of Canada And Australia's Mining Sector

Canada and Australia have successful and growing mining sector economies while the South African mining sector is struggling. South Africa is one of the world’s largest mining countries. In the African continent we are the leading producer of nearly all of the metals and minerals. “In 2012 the total income of the South African mining industry was R477.1 billion. Total expenditure of the industry was R477 billion and more than 80% was spent in South Africa. The mining sector shrank by about 1% each year in the period from 2001 to 2008. Mining expenditure in 2010 was R440 billion. The mining sector contributes about 18% to the GDP in 2010. Mining sector account for 50% of foreign currency earned” (Kearnley, 2012). The mining sector employs about 1 million people with the gold mining sector about half of the total mining sector. The platinum mining sector have been the center of a lot of industrial action as seen with the Marikana massacre in 2013. Anglo plat have recently announce a new wave of retrenchments. Government initiated certain policies including The New Growth Plan, The National Industrial Policy Framework and The

One of the factors that positively contributes to the mining sector’s contribution to the economy is the effect of the exchange rate. The weakening of the Rand vs US Dollar made export much more attractive to the foreign buyers. The Rand is at a 14 year low against the US Dollar. The potential income from the Shale gas find in the Karoo region of the country. Government need to lift the moratorium and issue licenses on the exploration of the Shale