Mr Roger Baxter elected President of the SADC regional mining body

The Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa (MIASA) held its elective meeting on the 29 August 2019 in Malawi. Apart from electing new office bearers the meeting also dealt with several issues affecting the mining industry in the SADC region.

 

Mr Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa, was elected as the President and Mr Gerald Mturi, Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Mines of Tanzania, was elected as the Vice President.

 

MIASA is proud to have played a leading role in the founding of the continental private sector mining lobby organisation, Association of Chambers of Mines and other Mining Associations (ACMMAA). The outgoing president of MIASA was elected as the first President of ACMMAA and Mr Vusi Mabena was appointed as the Secretary General. The purpose of ACMMAA is to lobby for interest of the mining industry with ministers of mines and heads of state at the African Union (AU). ACMMAA is working towards acquiring an observer status at the AU once it is representative of at least 32 mining jurisdictions in Africa. MIASA has been instrumental in the formation of similar bodies in the Eastern, Western and Central African region who are all members of ACMMAA.  ACMMAA is working at facilitating the formation of the North African Association Chambers of Mines. The North African Region will be invited to attend the second ACMMAA General Assembly meeting that is scheduled for 10 to 11 November 2019. At this meeting ACMMAA is planning to have its very first engagement with the Forum of African Mining Ministers to deal with policy and legislation issues affecting the mining industry in Africa.

 

At its biannual meeting MIASA discussed the OECD Tax proposals on the Digital Economy and its implications on mining countries. MIASA will lobby African states to exempt mining countries from any digital tax as this would erode the revenue base of the mining industry while further enriching digital economies. MIASA and ACMMAA will be seeking the support of ministers at the Forum of Mining Minsters in November 2019 on this matter.

 

MIASA has developed a position on illicit trade and financial mispricing and will be seeking an opportunity to engage with other stakeholders to set the record straight on the UNTAG report at the February 2020 Mining Indaba. MIASA will also be addressing resource nationalism and its impact on mining policy at all mining jurisdictions.

 

MIASA has taken note of the endorsement of the draft Regional Mining Vision by the heads of state in the SADC region and will soon be seeking audience with the SADC Secretariat to deal with how it could be domesticated at country level. MIASA also congratulates Lesotho and Tanzania for amending their mining legislation to be aligned to the Africa Mining Vision.

In order to be fully representative of all mining jurisdictions in the SADC region MIASA will be engaging with the private sector in Angola and Mozambique to ensure that the entire private mining industry in the region are members of MIASA.

 

MIASA is proud to be in partnership with the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and ISSA Mining in running safety workshops for the mining industry in the region in the period 2019 to 2021.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Vusi Mabena

Executive Secretary: MIASA

Tel: + 27 11 498 7278

Mobile: +27 82 465 5758

Email: amabena@miasa.org.za

Web: www.miasa.org.za