Gold And Copper – Will Botswana Coin It?

Former SA gold-mining heavyweights turn their attention to the riches laying unclaimed in the Kalahari desert.

- David McKay

When John Munro and Johan Ferreira were last employed in the SA gold sector, it could still claim a stake as an influence globally. National production in 2010 was just short of 200 tonnes, comprising about 8% of world production and making the country the globe’s fifth-largest producer.

By 2019, gold production was 100 tonnes and people employed in the sector totalled 100 000, about 60 000 less than in 2010, according to Minerals Council South Africa data. The country is a bit-part player in the world’s gold mining stakes. Even in Africa, SA has been overtaken by Mali and Ghana.

Munro left his job as business development vice-president at Gold Fields in 2008. Ferreira, senior vice-president of gold operations at AngloGold Ashanti’s Vaal River region – which contained the Kopanang, Great Noligwa and the significant Moab Khotsong mines – left for US gold giant Newmont Mining in 2012 where he worked for about four years.