Presentation to the OBG

The Overberg Geoscientists Group (OBG) requested that Paul Miller present on "What attracts mining investment."

Much of the presentation is about the future of the South African mining industry, as Paul is of the view that if South Africa fails to make the administrative and policy reforms necessary to compete for the only three available sources of early stage mining investment, being the public markets of Australia, Canada and the UK, the SA industry effectively has less than two decades left as the remaining sunk capital is run down.

Barring those lucky enough to be employed at a handful of long life mega mines, most aspirant mining engineers or geologists entering the industry today will either need to change careers or emigrate by the time they are about 40 years old.

It is a 45 minute presentation followed by almost as long in discussion. The points of view expressed in the presentation are likely to be unpopular with politicians, DMRE officials, the Minerals Council SA, incumbent large miners, the Council for Geosciences and last, but not least, professional geologists.

The OBG is a voluntary group comprising retired, semi-retired, active, and amateur geologists of diverse skills and experience established in 2017 with a current membership of about 80. Present focus is to raise the profile (via a Geotrail) of the exceptional geology, structure, geomorphology, geohydrology, archaeology, and climate-change features, between Gordons Bay and Gansbaai, including Walker Bay - the target audience being laypersons, children, scholars, and students. In the current circumstances the group holds Zoom meetings, and invited presentations on a weekly basis (Thursday morning at 10 am) covering a diverse range of local, regional, and international geological and related topics. A further driver of the OBG is to ensure that the immense experience and intellectual property of this eclectic group makes a small but positive contribution to highlighting the importance of geoscience in our daily lives, and stimulating geoscientists of the future.