China’ Voice in South Africa Mining Indaba

China’ Voice in South Africa Mining Indaba
Source: Portals of Ministry of Land and Resources   Citation: China Land and Resources News   Date: Feb. 10, 2012

On February 8, South Africa Mining Indaba is still under way. Deputy Chairman of the organizing committee of the conference Jonathan Moore said when interviewed by the reporter that more than 7,000 representatives attend the conference. He said with pride: “the representatives come from all the continents except the Antarctic Continent. If you want to know what makes this conference distinctive, I am proud to say that this is where the feature lies.   In terms of the number, China did not make conspicuous presence in the South Africa Mining Indaba 2012. Without exhibition stands and speech for the conference, the delegation representing both countries’ governments and the enterprises which attend the conference in groups or in individual is composed of less than 100 people in total. But on the exchange platform of the mineral there is a potential and penetrating voice, which is delivered by China.   The minister of South Africa Ministry of Mineral Resources talked about China International Mining conference in the opening ceremony. In the first keynote speech, Barry Eichengreen, expert in the international monetary history and author of Exorbitant Privilege, presents a special analysis of Chinese currency – the factors in influencing Renminbi. From the conference of this year, the South Africa International Conference adopts Chinese as one of the translated target language. So “China” makes its way into the key words of many keynote speeches.     On the afternoon of February 8, the Beijing Axis held the Dragon Year cocktail party for mining industry, specially inviting Chinese delegation to attend the party. At the party, the president of the company Cooper•Ven•Devas made a long speech, saying that Asia plays an important role in the trade and currency around the world. China’s economy development is trying to land in a soft way by making more adjustments for the purpose of more sustainable development. In the following ten years, China and India will make great contribution to the increase in the global GDP. But they have different development models. The rise of China and India will change the global trade and business pattern. He gave an example. Three decades ago, the coal trade was confined to Europe, leaving Asia on the insignificant position for the global coal trade. Today, the situation has changed. Asia rose to prominence. In 2010, China became the world’s fourth investing country. The new market is coming into existence and the new competitors are China and India. This hints that it is unwise and impossible to ignore China, behaviorally and psychologically. As China plays an increasingly important role in the 21st century, Gu Bai picks a Chinese name for himself and two thirds of employed workers are Chinese. He frequently enters and exits from China, almost leaving his visa not stamped with any other countries’ seals. Gu Bai views the China’s mining industry very positively and agrees with the micro-strategic adjustment made by Chinese government recently, for he said that “we should not keep eye on the short-term development but pay attention to the long-term and sustainable development”. At the cocktail party with the theme of Chinese dragon, the Chinese delegation introduced the prospecting achievements and geological exploration work China has made and launched over the recent years to dozens of foreign representatives who are attracted to the Chinese delegation, pointing out that China is experiencing the period of promoting industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. So China has higher demand for natural resources. To ensure the stable and accelerated growth in the social economy, the Ministry of Land and Resources aims to strengthen the guaranteeing capacity of utilizing natural resources and promote the geological prospecting. The central and provincial governments greatly increase financial investment in the public work and basic geological work, efficiently encouraging the investment of social fund. As the geological prospecting develops rapidly, China is launching the implementation of “prospecting strategic action” and will promote the prospecting in the coming ten years to strengthen the international cooperation in mining industry so as to achieve the mutual benefits. The Ministry of Land and Resources will continue to improve the regulations and laws in foreign-related mining industry to make the Chinese investment environment of mining industry more standard and transparent, which is more favorable for various enterprises to invest and develop their businesses. “We would like to channel and support the domestic powerful and creditworthy mining enterprises to invest overseas and launch the cooperation in mining industry. We also welcome the mining enterprises from around the world to invest in China and jointly exploit the mineral resources.” said Chen Yong, head of delegation of the Ministry of Land and Resources. (By Zhao Fan)