Australia connection: Africa Mining Forum explores Aussie view of continent's potential

KIGALI, Rwanda - Nov. 13, 2020 - PRLog -- The upcoming Africa Mining Forum will shine a spotlight on the "Africa-Australia mining connection" and look at what prospective investors are looking for.

"Inspiration and aspiration," is the answer of the moderator of the session, Duncan Harris, who is the President of the Australia Africa Chamber of Commerce. "There are opportunities aplenty across all commodities, including the rise and rise of critical minerals such as vanadium," he adds.

The Africa Mining Forum Digital Event takes place online from 16-20 November, is free to attend and registrations are open on the event website.

Harris said during this week's pre-event media briefing that during the COVID-19 pandemic: "Our companies have been quite resilient and they've really done very, very well. Al of them, of course, work remotely, so it is not as if they're in urban situations, which have been a lot of the focus lately of the concerns about COVID. So, overall very satisfactory."

Continued success in Africa
William Witham, CEO of AAMEG, the Australia-Africa Minerals & Energy Group and a panellist in the "Australia connection" discussion on 16 November, concurs.

"Despite all the challenges that COVID-19 is giving us all at present, we are finding that our members are having continuing success in Africa now. Many are still attracting investors for exploration, buying new projects, and running sustainable community development programmes. It is interesting to note that there is a lot of M&A activity."

What COVID-19 has made clear, says Witham, is that there has never been a more critical time to work together to support our employees and local communities.

"Looking ahead, collaboration between government, civil society and the private sector will play an important role in helping African economies and supply chains rebuild."

Continent maturing
Another panellists, Ben Gargett, Africa Practice Leader and CFO Advisory at PwC Australia, says that Africa has their attention as the continent is continually developing and maturing, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"What we have seen over the last decade or even longer than that, is that there are countries that are developing in their own governance, their own experience, opening up to the world and really seeing themselves mature, quite rapidly at times. Therefore, places that were perhaps hard to work in previously are becoming easier to work in."

To view the full programme, https://www.africaminingforum.com/agenda-0-0

Industry support
Aldango Gold Refinery is the returning diamond sponsor for the Africa Mining Forum Digital Event, while LuNa Smelter is once again the gold sponsor. The event is also supported by bronze sponsors Basil Read Mining, BKT, Catoca, GTK, HTDS, Secon Sonic Technology and Sodeico.