Regional mineral beneficiation policy interventions in the SADC: Industry perspectives B.E. Isheloke* , H. von Blottnitz

Posted by BYELONGO ELISEE ISHELOKE on 20 August 2022, 11:50 SAST

Mining is a significant economic activity in most Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and mineral beneficiation has been identified and controversially discussed as one of the possibilities for industrialisation. With many member countries being economically too small to muster the human and financial resources which beneficiation requires, the recently adopted Regional Mining Vision (RMV) envisages interventions at a regional level. An opportunity arose to ask industry role players to what extent the SADC appears to support regional beneficiation policy interventions undertaken by member countries, and what the challenges are in undertaking beneficiation regionally, as a complement to, or substitute of country-specific beneficiation policies. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from SADC member countries during the 2019 Mining Indaba. Participants were divided on whether beneficiation should be carried out nationally or in the SADC region. While beneficiation could support value-keeping, key challenges were found to be infrastructure development (i.e. energy, water), scarce skills, access to technology and related cost, but also lack of free trade and movement. We submit that a more integrated beneficiation strategy for the SADC region, as is being developed through the RMV, would indeed be relevant in the future. Keywords: Mineral beneficiation, Regional integration, Beneficiation policy interventions, African mining vision, Mining, SADC. 

View Full Post and Comments

A Trajectory of Innovation Outputs among the BRICS Countries: Critical Perspectives of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa Gustave Mungeni Kankisingi 1 , Byelongo Elisée Isheloke 2

Posted by BYELONGO ELISEE ISHELOKE on 20 August 2022, 11:35 SAST

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are the important players of the emerging markets in the global economy and their innovation profiles matter for the economic growth of individual countries and the block. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and compare the international rankings in innovation outputs in terms of knowledge and technology outputs among the BRICS-countries in relation to their economic growth in the last two years. A systematic review methodology was used, the innovation topic was investigated from the practice-based problem. Secondary data is collected from sources and institutions that use statistical data to build country rankings produced by the world intellectual property organisation (WIPO) and the World Bank. The findings show China is well-positioned in innovation ranking followed by Russia. Similarities in innovation evolution are observed among the other three BRICS- countries. Although these similarities exist, India portrays a slightly high prospect in innovation because of its information communication technology success, followed by Brazil and South Africa. The findings also show that their GDPs improve with the innovation ranking of the countries. This study recommends the member countries to strengthen their innovation cooperation and to revisit and adapt the education systems to their innovation aspirations through the production of relevant knowledge.

View Full Post and Comments