Loading ...snip
An industry in decline
Despite South Africa’s wealth of resources, the country has steadily been losing ground against other commodity producers because miners are simply no longer able to operate as efficiently or effectively as they once did.
“We have 6 152 abandoned mines in South Africa,” Major said. “We went through the greatest commodity boom the world has ever seen, but it’s is all over now and all we have show for it is 6 000 mines that didn’t re-open.”
The greatest decline has probably been in the gold industry, where South Africa has slipped from dominating the global industry to being a bit player. In the 1970s, South Africa produced 80% of the world’s gold, now it accounts for around just 5% of global output.
“In 1979 we earned $35 billion from gold,” Major said. “Now we barely get $6 billion, and the country is hurting not getting this money.”
The commodity boom at the start of this century should have allowed South Africa’s mines to flourish. However, poor decision making handicapped the industry.
“When commodities went up in the 70s, the earnings of our gold mines rocketed,” Major said. “But in the last run, gold went up higher and stayed up longer, but earnings hardly got off the ground.”
more http://www.mineweb.com/news/gold/could-sas-gold-mining-industry-be-gone-by-2020/