Mining Indaba Professional Conference 2024

Cape Town International Convention Centre , Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street, Cape Town
Cape Town (ZA)

Mining Indaba Professional Conference: the trade show

Investing in African Mining Indaba is the world’s largest mining investment event and Africa’s largest mining event. For 19 years, Investing in African Mining Indaba along with its partners in Africa have channeled billions of dollars of foreign investment into the mining value chain.

Mining Indaba is the world’s largest gathering of mining’s most influential stakeholders and decision-makers vested in African mining.

This is where the world connects with African mining. Global professionals including key mining analysts, fund managers, investment specialists, and governments clearly define Mining Indaba as their preferred venue for obtaining the most current economic and mining developments from the world’s leading experts on African mining.

It is held annually at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and is organised by Mining Indaba LLC.

Event profile Mining Indaba Professional Conference

Mining Indaba Professional Conference editions

Mining Indaba Professional Conference 2024 From to Cape Town International Convention Centre
Mining Indaba Professional Conference 2023 From to Cape Town International Convention Centre
Mining Indaba Professional Conference 2022 From to Cape Town International Convention Centre
Mining Indaba Professional Conference 2021 From to Cape Town International Convention Centre

African Mining Indaba is Africa’s largest mining event

Mining Indaba organizers are feverishly working on 2017 event, an edition that will show some changes in order to attract a more professional profile. We talk with them to discover more, not just about Mining Indaba but about this new approach.

The motto of the event is "where the world connects with African Mining"...

Investing in African Mining Indaba remains the world’s largest mining investment conference and Africa’s largest mining event. As the name clearly states, this event is squarely focused on the capitalisation and development of mining interests in Africa. In 2016 there were delegates from 93 countries, including 39 African nations.

Now approaching its 23 rd year, Mining Indaba continues as the pivotal event for connecting mining companies doing business in Africa with African governments and the investment community. There is no other event that exclusively brings these three market segments together and places its emphasis on creating opportunities for financing mining projects on the African continent.

Tell us, what Mining Indaba represents in economic and business terms for the African continent?

This can be answered two ways.

  1. With a complete focus on African mining, all business conducted drives investment into Africa. Over the years, billions of dollars (USD) of foreign investment have been channelled into the African mining value chain.
  2. Each year for more than 20 years Mining Indaba has convened thousands of mining professionals, mining ministers and investors from nearly 100 nations in Cape Town, South Africa. Over the past 10 years, the total contribution to the Cape Town economy is estimated at more than R675 Million (including hotels, restaurants, tourism, shopping, golf and more).

Mining Indaba uses service providers and temporary help almost exclusively from South Africa. Considering all the events and activities occurring in Cape Town during mining week, we project that more than 5,000 jobs have been created. And we are 100% commitment to partnering with BEE Certified South African suppliers (current or in the process of certification).

You are working on some measures to attract Mining Corporates, what kind of measures?

We are indeed. It’s clear that market conditions had an impact on event equilibrium. The success of this event relies entirely on the participation of investors, mining ministers, and mining corporates. But market conditions and unfavourable currency-conversion rates created challenges in 2016 for many mining and exploration companies (investors and mining minister attend for free). As a result, many mining corporates sent fewer delegates.

Some who had a stand in the exhibition hall were unable to maintain this exposure. To address this, the organiser of Mining Indaba has rolled back registration prices for Mining Companies to 2008 levels. This represents up to a 50% decrease in price for mining corporates.

In addition, special incentives are being offered to bring miners back to the show floor, to make it easier for them to meet investors. Jonathan Moore, Managing Director of Mining Indaba said, “We want to ensure that mining companies meet investors who are eager to learn about their projects. This new pricing will help make that possible, especially for the junior miners.”

“We believe this change in pricing for mining corporates will make it possible for all miners – from large to nano cap – to be able to attend the 2017 Indaba,” Moore said. “We want all those who seek investment and who wish to meet with government ministers, service providers and their peers to be able to participate, and to conduct productive business in Cape Town.”

New sponsorship opportunities also will make it possible for mining companies of all sizes to have a presence and demonstrate their value. Fred Noce, director of sales for Mining Indaba, said, “It’s my goal to help any mining company looking for visibility to get it this year.

I anticipate that the increase in the number of mining companies with a physical presence, along with our deliberate elimination of more than 40 sponsoring service providers and equipment companies will greatly improve connections and commerce on the exhibit hall floor.”

One of the strengths of the event is its networking activities. What can you advance us about these activities?

While many come to hear talks from industry leaders, this event is all about deal-making. We have several traditional methods of bringing people together such as social receptions. However, over the past two years Mining Indaba has introduced a number of new networking activities.

The Business Matchmaking Programme: This networking tool enables every Mining Indaba registrant to request a meeting with any other attendee who chooses to participate. Nearly 75% of registrants use it to connect with others. Accessible online or on mobile, the 2016 Indaba recorded 2,386 meetings confirmed through this programme.




Speed-Networking: In 2016 we introduced Commodity Speed-Networking. Each of the eight 30-minute sessions concentrated on a different commodity. Participants meet others interested in that commodity. Each meeting lasts just two minutes, enough time to introduce themselves and exchange business cards before moving on to meet the next person. More than 2,000 people participated in this inaugural programme, which will be expanded in 2017 to enable wider participation.

Networking Roundtables: Introduced in 2016, the networking roundtables bring together like-minded professionals to participate in an open discussion about topics such as sustainability, mining regulations, power and water, mine closures and the impact on community, and infrastructure developments.

Expanded Meeting Space: In 2016 the conference dedicated square footage to meeting space than in any previous year. Using the combined facilities of the Business Matchmaking Lounge, the Nedbank Lounge and the JSE VIP Investor Lounge, this year’s Indaba focused on what people wanted most: face-to-face meetings. Meeting space can also be reserved upon request for companies looking to hold private meetings.

Mining Indaba attracts an increasingly international audience. Can you give some tips for those exhibiting both in Mining Indaba and in Cape Town for the first time?

With so many years of experience, the Mining Indaba team have learned (through lots of trial and error!) how to create an exceptional experience for both delegates and sponsors. The Mining Indaba website (www.miningindaba.com) has a new Sponsor Resource Centre to simplify and streamline the process for all exhibitors. But each sponsor has a dedicated representative who can help them at any stage of planning and execution.

There are services available for all who participate. One of our partners offers exclusive discounted travel and hotel packages. There is a Speaker Resource Centre to assist the more than 200 speakers with planning their presentations. There is a personalised service for investors, whereby the Mining Indaba Director of Investor Relations assists investors with planning and meeting arrangements.

A lot happens in Cape Town during mining week, but Investing in African Mining Indaba is the anchor that drives business. To quote one of last year’s delegates, “Mining Indaba is the main event for African mining, so everyone involved in mining in Africa has to be here…Yes, we will be here next year…and many years to come.” Nikolai Zelenski, Chief Executive Officer, Nordgold

Finally, tell us, in one sentence, why we can't miss Mining Indaba 2017?

If the success of your organisation relies on meeting and making deals with the world’s most important and most engaged mining professionals doing business in Africa, then book a ticket to Mining Indaba.

Mining Indaba is a truly global platform, then, don't let it go!

Investing in African Mining Indaba is an annual meeting and conference for professionals related to the development of mining interests in Africa. On February 8-11 Cape Town will hold a new edition so we have been talking to the organizers not just to discover all the novelties but to know what challenges they arise and also, what makes the difference with other events of its kind!

Mining Indaba In Cape Town

Mining Indaba has become the largest mining investment event in Africa and in the world but, what makes it different from other events of its kind?

Mining Indaba has always focused solely on mining investment in Africa - connecting the mining companies with government and the investment community. This has not changed. In fact, we are investing more of our own resources to ensure that this remains the overriding focus of the event, even as we expand our coverage of other important areas such as sustainable development and career development. In the end, there is no other event that exclusively brings these three market segments together and places its emphasis on creating opportunities for financing mining projects on the African continent.

Mining Indaba is a truly global platform. For four days the mining world's focus is in Cape Town and this event. With the world’s most influential and important investors, CEOs from the world’s largest mining companies, mining ministers from a majority of African nations, government representation from another 20 key countries, and world’s top media brands – no other event creates the networking platform that is Mining Indaba. Mining Indaba is a truly world-class event – it is this quality that drives the quality of our participants which is higher in calibre than any other event in the industry.

Investing In African Mining Indaba



What challenges arise Mining Indaba for the next edition?

A regular refrain when talking about mining is 'it's a cyclical industry, you just have to work through the cycles'. With 2016 Mining Indaba, we are using the platform to bring together investors, mining companies and Government to explore what the sector is doing to strengthen its position in the current environment but also how it is developing investment strategies to better position itself for when demand for commodities starts to pick up.

The current market offers opportunities for organisations to take a hard look at how they do business and what they can do to improve efficiencies of operations, to evaluate how best to make investments into the mining sector while mitigating associated risks, and to identify the partnerships that will be critical to the future development and acceptance of mining in the years to come.

This theme can also refer to the investments that we are making into the conference to ensure that delegates receive maximum value. We have extended the hours and expanded the programme to accommodate our client’s requirements so that they get the most out of participating in the event. This includes additional and more targeted networking features and the increased amount of an improved quality of content. This should prove valuable to those who are committed to the sector and investing strategically right now in preparation for an improved market.

Mining Indaba Exhibition Area

What are the novelties for 2016?

  • Start time of the conference – the event begins half a day earlier (Monday morning) to allow more time for new networking activities and additional sessions.
  • More market themed panels – with the integration of the commodity review into the main stage content there will be more opportunity for mining companies to participate in panel discussions on the main stage.
  • Investment Discovery Forum – Combining IDF with the main conference allows delegates to get everything done over 3 days of the event, while also giving them a more targeted investor stream that allows them to identify the very real investment opportunities.
  • Additional networking features – speed networking, networking roundtables, business matchmaking. People increasingly attend events to network. We wanted to ensure that the event was creating opportunities for likeminded people to meet.
  • Greater emphasis on sustainability – running throughout programme as well as more partners in the advisory panel of the Sustainable Development agenda on Thursday. Sustainability and licence to operate is an important issue for all mining companies, as it must be incorporated into their business plans from the outset. Investors are paying increasingly more attention to how mining companies are operating and want to engage with companies that are taking sustainability seriously. As a platform that brings the mining companies together, we have a responsibility to ensure that the key issues around investment are being addressed.
  • Introduction of Young Leaders Career Development Programme – this year’s theme focuses on what we can do today to positively impact the future, and helping to ensure there are well trained and inspired leaders in the future is key. Identifying the right candidates for the jobs that are available is becoming increasingly difficult as graduates are looking at alternative industries under the current market. This programme helps students and graduates identify the skill sets that the industry requires now and into the future.

Mining Indaba 2016

Give us some reasons why we can't stop visiting the show?

Moving with the market, those who attend want networking and interaction to ensure maximum value from their participation. Mining Indaba is first and foremost about INVESTING in mining, and all enhancements address some form of investment – be it financial, human capital, or sustainability.

Who must visit the show?

Mining Indaba is the world’s largest gathering of the most influential stakeholders – financers, investors, mining professionals, government officials, etc... in African mining.