State of Mining in Africa

We have taken a snapshot view of several mining regions across Africa and reflect on what is happening through our framework of key success factors for mining investment, which we established in the first edition last year.

We set out that in our experience there are five key factors that set any mining project or operation up for a successful outcome. These are:

• A good mineral deposit
• The deposit being located in an economic region with good governance and consistent application of civil and tax law
• Infrastructure in the form of roads, rail, ports, electricity and communications to support the mine being available and functioning
• A well-understood inbound and outbound supply chain supporting the mine and points to market
• A team of competent and cohesive team members who work together safely.

The sampling basis required infrastructure construction projects to be valued at over US$50 million and to have broken ground, but to not have been commissioned by 1 June 2014. A total of 255 projects qualified for inclusion. Deloitte has also focused on the presentation of robust regional analysis within this edition. Categorisation of regions follows that of the African Development Bank, and data collected was limited to publicly available information.