www.africanbusinessreview.co.za
March 2017
Talking to TOTAL Analysing AFCON TOP10 AFRICAN CUP of NATIONS SPONSORS Special Report
MOZABANCO
EDITOR’S COMMENT
FOOTBALL FEVER FÉLICITATIONS CAMEROON! CONGRATULATIONS LIONS! The Africa Cup of Nations was unpredictable right up until the final. However, we can honestly say that the best team won. It’s easy for us to get distracted by the celebration dances, outlandish haircuts, and catchy chants, but as a business magazine, we need to (quite literally) get down to business. African Business Review spoke to Total, first time title sponsors of AFCON, to discuss its foray into African football. We also chatted to Perform Group, world champions of sports data. It analysed AFCON in order to provide global clients with data - a concept we were eager to grill MD Peter Burroughs about. Be sure to check out our list of top 10 AFCON sponsors too. This month’s issue also features a selection of exclusive company profiles. Have a browse through our pieces on Pearson and MozaBanco to keep abreast of the continent’s newest business initiatives. I hope you find this issue interesting; get in touch with us @AfricaBizReview to continue the debate.
Enjoy the issue! Wedaeli Chibelushi Editor Wedaeli.chibelushi@bizclikmedia.com 3
F E AT U R E S
TECHNOLOGY
ANALYSING AFCON 06 LIST
12 PROFILE
Talking to
TOTAL 4
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African Cup of Nations sponsors
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Technology
Technology
Pearson
MozaBanco
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Skorpion Mining Company Mining
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Chamber of Mines of Namibia Mining
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Talking to
TOTAL Orange has been AFCON’s title sponsor for years, but this time Total took the helm. We chatted to Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Total, JacquesEmmanuel Saulnier, about the sponsorship deal Writ ten by: WE DAE LI CHIBE LUS HI
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PROFILE IN JULY 2016, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced Total as its sponsor for the next eight years. Essentially, this means the energy producer will be the official backer of African football for the entirety of this period. It will support CAF’s 10 principal competitions (three inter-club and seven national) and started with the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon. Total replaced Orange as AFCON’s title sponsor. Total is the world’s fourthranked international oil and gas company and second-ranked photovoltaic solar. The multinational is headquartered in France, yet has a substantial African presence. “With an established presence of more than 90 years in the region, Total is now active in 44 African countries,”
Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, Senior Vice President of Total Corporate Communications explained. “Today, more than 10,000 people work in all of Total’s African businesses, from oil and gas production to processing and marketing. Each day, we serve two million customers in our 4,200 retail outlets across the continent.” Total is also a leader in renewable energy projects in South Africa, via its affiliate SunPower. SunPower is active in ground-mounted solar power plants and off-grid solar facilities in South Africa. Additionally, Total operates decentralised rural electrification programmes through KwaZulu Energy Services (KES). Total’s symbiosis with Africa spurred them to sign the AFCON deal. Saulnier told us: “Africa is a cornerstone of our global presence and a keystone
“With an established presence of more than 90 years in the region, Total is now active in 44 African countries” – Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier Senior VP of Corporate Communications 8
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TA L K I N G T O T O TA L
Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Total
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PROFILE of our 20-year ambition. We aim to become the local services champion on the continent”. Furthermore, Total believes that AFCON and Total were a match made in football heaven. “AFCON echoes Total’s international DNA: 100,000 people who represent about 150 different citizenships are now working in more than 130 different countries.” Through the partnership, Total hoped to strengthen ties with stakeholders and customers. The company helped to fund the tournament, and in return AFCON offered Total lucrative advertisement opportunities. In Saulnier’s words, it was a “classic sport sponsorship”. The Total logo was used and official names of the tournaments systematically included the Total brand. Total organised celebratory events throughout AFCON. “They’re
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“AFCON echoes Total’s international DNA: 100,000 people who represent about 150 different citizenships are now working in more than 130 different countries” – Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier
TA L K I N G T O T O TA L
always popular, including within our own teams,” Saulnier says. For example, Total Zimbabwe created an ‘AFCON Warriors Fan bus’ which took to Harare’s streets to support the Zimbabwean national team. “We hope that people enjoyed the football games and online games we thought of. Football is a language spoken universally and synonymous with friendliness and enthusiasm and we loved bringing people together,” said Saulnier. By producing online games for AFCON, Total built upon the success Orange gained by offering its African customers exclusive web content during previous tournaments. Eight years is a long time – can Saulnier predict what the legacy of the CAF sponsorship deal will be? “The first goal was to support the competition and contribute bringing collective fun to everyone. Eight years is a long way to go and we intend to make the best of each year,” he explains. “We really hope that looking back at these eight years, people will remember breathtaking sporting events, players, pleasure and excitement shared collectively.”
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ANALYSIN
NG AFCON PETER BURROUGHS, MD OF PERFORM GROUP, TOLD US HOW GROUP SUBSIDIARY OPTA COVERED AFCON 2017 Writ ten by: WE DAE LI CHIBE LUS HI
TECHNOLOGY “SPORTS DATA FUELS all sporting conversation and analysis,” Peter Burroughs, MD of Perform Group told us. Burroughs was assured in his definition of sports data, i.e. facts and statistics that are fast becoming the social and analytical currency of sport. It’s used by athletes to enhance on-field performance, bookmakers to bet, and broadcasting pundits to analyse games. Burroughs was right – intricate sports analysis is on the rise. The 2003 book Moneyball by Michael Lewis documents how Oakland Athletic Manager Billy Beane used data analysis to succeed in the science of baseball player evaluation. NBA teams use a technology called ‘player tracking’, which evaluates the efficiency of a team by an analysis of player movement. Fans are also thirsty for sports data. “Even for you and me sat having a drink, chewing the fat: ‘Is Wayne Rooney better than Zlatan Ibrahimovic?’. Then the data fuels all sporting conversation,” Burroughs says. Burroughs is the Managing Director of Perform Group, a leading digital sports media group. Its subdivision, Opta, is the world’s leading sports data provider. “Opta is our B2B sports 14
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data provider, where we provide data, video and editorial B2B to anyone that will take it: broadcasters, digital publishers, traditional publishers and bookmakers around the world,” Burroughs says. “Opta is the data provider within Perform Content.” Burroughs lives in South Africa, but his clear-cut English accent gives him away. He is from England, but moved to South Africa three years ago. The move was partly due to personal
A N A LY S I N G A F C O N
circumstances, and partly due to Africa’s demand for sports data. Perform Group found there was a huge market in South Africa and Nigeria. It also saw opportunity in the Africa Cup of Nations. Opta
“ Sports data fuels all sporting conversation and analysis” – Peter Burroughs 15
TECHNOLOGY covered AFCON 2015, and covered this year’s tournament too. We asked Burroughs how Opta interacted with AFCON 2017. “We offer a fairly standardised service, whether it be Africa Cup of Nations, or the Premier League, or the European football league,” he explained. “We collected every shot, pass, tackle, and corner, basically every event during every match of AFCON in real time. Then we made this information available to our customers via our various delivery mechanisms, which is a raw XML
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data feed.” Opta’s data feeds come in three types: core (basic match data), classic (more detailed and aggregated stats) and performance (the most detailed level of live data, including x,y coordinates and time-stamps). Team tactics Recently, Africa has seen an influx of homegrown media companies. Opta supports these SMEs by allowing them to integrate and manipulate the data themselves. “We also provide hosted widget products
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to integrate stats, scores, fixtures, results, whatever, without having to have too much technical or development resource to be able to do it,” Burroughs explained. Clients can choose where the widgets sit on their sites, resize them, apply their own branding and reskin them. Importantly, Opta’s widgets are multilingual. For AFCON, Opta used its own proprietary software that has been developed over a decade of collecting sports data. The team gathered live, high definition data, then analysed it in real time within its database. Opta’s editorial team (based in the UK) received this data as soon as it was collected and produced a range of preview and review material (including player profiles, team profiles and matchday Opta facts). The editorial team also offered clients a stats hotline and live chat facility. Global goals Who exactly were these clients? Burroughs explains that Opta didn’t have clients specific to AFCON: The majority of its client base have an annual relationship with Opta; there is no event-by-event client base. “We have over 800 clients
across 40 countries in the broadcast, digital and traditional media, and bookmakers who will have the opportunity to access the data,” he said. Opta’s current clients include: Fox Sports, who covered AFCON in Asia, Canal + who covered it in France, and Eurosport, who broadcasted the tournament across Europe. Burroughs illustrated how these broadcasters and publishers 17
TECHNOLOGY
BBC Match Of The Day 2 analysis
“ We have over 800 clients across 40 countries in the broadcast, digital and traditional media and bookmakers”– Peter Burroughs benefitted from Opta’s AFCON coverage. “The professionalism of sport has grown. 20 years ago, people would only watch sport either in the stadium or on TV, whereas now people can be watching sport on TV and in the stadium, but also consuming 18
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little snippets of information and conversing with their friends on second screen environments,” he said. Burroughs continued to explain that broadcasters and digital publishers need to keep offering fans ways to engage with the sport: “Obviously,
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data is a very useful tool to be able to do that because you can mine into the game and find talking points etc. So, I think data is becoming more and more relevant as the media landscape evolves into nontraditional forms of broadcasting.” Tackling challenges Opta’s clients had to build relationships with AFCON’s rights holders in order to cover
the tournament, and so did Opta. “Perform has a relationship with Confederation African Football (CAF) across the group’s various divisions,” Burroughs explains. “Like all our clients we worked with them to explore all available partnerships that will maximise commercial value from AFCON and distribute market leading products to as many fans of AFCON as possible.” AFCON develops every cycle. Total has replaced long-standing supporters Orange as the title sponsors for 2017’s tournament, won dramatically by Cameroon. 2015’s tournament reached a record 6.6 billion television viewers. Our final question for Burroughs: How did Opta adapt its 2015 AFCON strategy to the evolving tournament? “The challenge with data is being able to contextualise the data in a visual, easy-to-understand way,” he responded. “Fans are constantly looking for more ways to interact with the game and supplement their viewing experience. Opta works hard at providing our clients and, subsequently, the fans with new and innovative ways to showcase data and fuel footballing conversation.” 19
TOP 10
Top 10 Afri of Nations Sponsoring sports events is a great way to drive brand awareness across developing markets. Simultaneously, sponsorship contributes to the event’s success, whether it be through funding, equipment or public campaigns. Starting with Total, here are AFCON’s most committed sponsors since 2006 Writ ten by: WE DAE LI CHIBE LUS HI
ican Cup sponsors s
TOP 10
10 TOTAL www.twitter.com/TotalSAfrica Global “supermajor” oil company, Total sponsored AFCON for the first time this year. The tournament was renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations after the French multinational, and they will officially sponsor African football for the next eight years. The deal may be renewed in 2024 if both Total and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) agree.
09 ORANGE www.twitter.com/orange Orange has sponsored the African Cup of Nations four times. The mobile network operator was the title sponsor for AFCON 2010 (Angola), 2012 (Gabon and Equatorial Guinea), 2013 (South Africa) and 2015 (Equatorial Guinea). As AFCON’s main sponsor, Orange offered its African customers exclusive mobile and web content.
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08 SAMSUNG www.twitter.com/SamsungSA Samsung has sponsored AFCON four times, albeit not as a title sponsor. The electronics conglomerate was involved in 2010, 2012, and 2013. During this time, Samsung launched “I See Your Dreams”, a campaign encouraging young fans to pursue football. The company also launched a series of interactive, live, online events for fans.
STANDARD 07 BANK www.twitter.com/StandardBankZA In the words of the CAF, Standard Bank is a “committed” sponsor of AFCON. The South African bank secured sponsorship rights as AFCON’s official financial services sponsor for eight years. It supported AFCON in 2008 (Ghana), 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 (Equatorial Guinea). In 2008, Standard Bank signed a 21 million rand deal with SportFive, the CAF’s marketing agency.
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05 NISSAN
06 PEPSICO www.twitter.com/PepsiCo Global food and drink company, PepsiCo has been a long-time advocate of African football. Over the years, it has promoted grassroots football and players like Didier Drogba and Mohamed Abu Treika. PepsiCo has a football academy in Nigeria with 14 centres and 300 students. According to the company, the AFCON sponsorship allowed PepsiCo to interact with customers in a relaxed environment.
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www.twitter.com/NissanAfrica Before landing its deal with AFCON, Nissan already sponsored the South African football team. By clinching AFCON sponsorship in 2013, Nissan hoped to further their brands presence across the continent. They also sponsored the tournament two years later, during the Equatorial Guinea tournament. Throughout both years, Nissan was the official automotive partner.
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03 ADIDAS
04 CANON
www.twitter.com/adidasZA The sports brand signed an eight-year deal with CAF, running from 2008 to 2016. This involved Adidas providing AFCON with coaching courses, referees, medicine and football administration. Adidas also made the ball for the 2013 tournament, allowing fans to name it Katlego in a competition.
www.twitter.com/Canon_SA Canon sponsored AFCON in 2004 (Tunisia), 2006 (Egypt), 2008 (Ghana), 2010 (Angola). The imaging and IT company were pleased to support the tournament, as it demonstrated by their “ongoing commitment to the emerging markets in the Middle East and African countries�. Canon has a long-standing history of football sponsorship going back almost 30 years. During the Ghana games, Canon hosted 200 of its partners to the opening ceremony.
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02 PUMA
www.twitter.com/PUMA Puma became the official fan supplier at AFCON 2013. The company developed and distributed sportswear, apparel and accessories that bare the Orange AFCON logo. Puma also set up vending stands, retail stores and kiosks in and around the stadium. The firm partnered with South African sportswear brand Totalsports to complete the retail side of the deal; Totalsports managed the fan shops and distributed official fan merchandise. 26
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01 MTN
www.twitter.com/MTNza MTN became the title sponsor of AFCON in 2004. The agreement ran until 2008, and at $12.5 million, was the biggest sponsorship deal in African sporting history. The South African mobile phone company already sponsored the African Champions League along with CAF’s annual awards banquet. It also sponsored the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, making history as the first African sponsor of a FIFA World Cup. 27
Digitisation of educational services in South Africa Written by Catherine Rowell Produced by Vince Kielty
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South Africa is a major growth region for Pearson, at which Technology Director Thuli Hlongwane discusses how the company is implementing new digital products and initiatives to enable world-class learning
S
outh Africa is currently a major growth region for the education sector, with the rise of new colleges and education establishments across the region. Last year, Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI) changed its name to Pearson Institute of Higher Education. The name change was a natural progression, as in 2010, Pearson bought a majority stake in MGI and in 2013 became 100 percent owners of the institution. Through its implementation, Technology Director Thuli Hlongwane has been behind the development and delivery of the company’s applications for students at the Pearson Institute, in addition to overseeing the company’s financial
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and HR systems. Hlongwane is also responsible for managing the project management office (PMO), encompassing all technology implementation, direct delivery and system integration. She explains: “With students, we look at them as prospects at Pearson, from the time of registration to enrolment. We do that on a CRM application. We are then able to progress the student through the level of registration.” In order to provide a personalised and world-class service, Hlongwane liaises with colleagues and speaks with students directly in order to efficiently look at requirements from a systems perspective. Pearson has also recently gone live with a new HR platform, integrating current systems
E D U C AT I O N
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to ensure the best possible experience for staff and bring forth streamlined business processes. At present, Pearson is in the process of enrolling students which occurs twice a year, once at the beginning of the year, and then in mid-year. All students are enrolled on Pearson’s CRM application, at which this information is then linked to target systems, such as the institute’s financial systems and student information system. However, Pearson is currently working on a platform regarding online registration for students.
With students, we look at them as prospects at Pearson, from the time of registration to enrolment
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PEARSON
Our Learner Management System allows us to post new information directly to students, or to groups of students by qualification, campus, or nationally
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Well equipped Students at Pearson Institute are provided with tablets, containing full academic content and global systems, such an eReader and the student portal application. These technological developments have proven advantageous and have become part of the students’ induction process and success throughout their studies. Measurable learning outcomes and employable graduates are cornerstones of success. Hlongwane explains: “For us it is all about student experience. Through the tablet, students will know their way around, have access to different systems and know what’s available
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with our students within the institution, employees working is of the utmost just before they set for Pearson importance. The LMS into class”. However, system allows us to post in certain subjects, some new information directly to students still prefer textbooks, students, or to groups of students by but Hlongwane concludes “this is qualification, campus, or nationally.” the exception rather than the norm”. Integration of our Customer Learner Management System Relationship Management (CRM) (LMS), myLMS, will enable students system, Salesforce, allows Pearson to gain access to their course to capture and identify trends material, assignments, quizzes, and provides insight into the results, and ongoing communication students’ needs and wants, and with their lecturers. The myLMS how the company can provide team adds: “Communication
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PEARSON
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the best student experience. The advantages of the integration of current systems has even been considered for students who are graduating from the institution. Hlongwane explains: “It is more on the employability side. We implemented a system for the students who are graduating and also for current students to make sure that they have proper access or
exposure to employers, whether as interns or for permanent positions”. Further enhancement With the revamping of Pearson’s academic management systems (AMS), technology will further support all activities on the 12 campuses for an increased number of students, which is rising year on year. Hlongwane explains: “It’s centralised
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PEARSON
Through the tablet, students will know their way around, have access to different systems and know what’s available within the institution, just before they set into class
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E D U C AT I O N
because we have one technology two financial applications. team supporting our operations, Long term, Pearson’s continual and also, ensures that we have the focus on the student journey, proper support in place.” Pearson’s data security, alongside the helpdesk is currently outsourced, but integration of systems will enable it is imperative that all calls are logged students to interact with the through this system by the respective institution more effectively. campuses, with follow up on “The rebranding of MGI all incidents and proper to Pearson Institute troubleshooting on all is a positive step issues. Calls must towards ensuring also be directed to the excellence in right environment. learning and Pearson’s global providing high The amount of projects, such as its quality education revenue generated OneCRM application are to all students. by Pearson implemented by global Measurable learning teams, incorporating strong outcomes and partnerships with consulting/ employable graduates implementation companies. are cornerstones of our success. However, Pearson also partners Providing educational materials with a number of local suppliers may be what Pearson is best known in the hosting of the institute’s for but we also own and operate applications, telecommunications a number of learning institutions and local networks deployment. around the world”. Hlongwane adds Whilst Pearson’s student portal that being part of an international is also hosted externally, its AMS company improves partnership with application is supported by local global universities and students partners, alongside the institution’s benefit from these partnerships.
2bn
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Financial inclusion for everyone Written by WEDAELI CHIBELUSHI Produced by VINCE KIELTY
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We speak to Marco Abalroado, Head of Digital, Channels and Self-banking at Moza Banco about the bank’s ongoing projects 42
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TECHNOLOGY
L
ast year, World Bank projections placed the economic growth of Mozambique at 3.6 percent, with “significant downward risks”. The Bank cites Mozambique’s adverse short-term prospects, but projects growth to reach 6.9 percent by 2018. Marco Abalroado, Head of Digital, Channels and Self-banking at Moza Banco explains how Mozambique’s economy impacts its banking system: “If you look at the [Mozambican] banking system nowadays, from a products perspective it’s probably not that complex, in terms of the effects that you see in many markets in Europe. In that sense, that’s plenty of opportunity to develop new products and solutions adapted to the country and to an economy that’s also developing” Moza Banco is a nine-year old Mozambican commercial bank with a market share of 7.5 percent. Abalroado tells us about the shortcomings of the Mozambican banking market. “The majority of the Mozambique population is not yet bancarised,” he says. “So approximately only around 20 percent of the people are
formally financially included.” This is where Moza Banco comes in. Moza Banco has been operating since 2008. What has it done to improve financial inclusion in Mozambique? Moza Banco started as a boutique bank – it was targeted at a private group of affluent clients. In 2010, KPMG included in its 100 largest companies in Mozambique report. More accolades followed, for instance The Banker ranked Moza Banco as Africa’s fifth fastest growing bank, in terms of assets. Moza Banco was commercially and critically successful. Despite this, it decided to change strategy. “We moved our strategy by the end of 2013 to be a fully-fledged retail bank. So, what we’re trying to achieve as a bank is how to reach the population. How can we start financial inclusion?” Abalroado explains. To achieve this goal, Moza Banco has partnered with the Central Bank, the government International Cooperation Companies like GIZ and NGO’s. Together, they’ve been “trying to develop new products, products that can bring the majority of the population to the bank”.
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“Our shareholders, from day one, accepted that the way forward is technology”
Inclusion When he started working with Moza Banco in 2011, Abalroado noticed that Mozambique had a well-developed banking system with advanced technology and mobile phone application. He explains that his main objective wasn’t to improve on these areas. “What we’re trying to achieve as a bank revolves around how to reach the population. How can we start financial inclusion?” Abalroado says. “So, we’ve launched quite a few projects to facilitate this.” Moza Banco’s most cogent project is its agent banking project. A banking agent is a retail/postal outlet that processes clients’ transactions on behalf of a bank. Countries such as Mexico, Pakistan, Kenya and Brazil have all built experimental banking agent networks. During his financial services career, Abalroado worked in Brazil, a country with one of the largest agent networks in the world. In 2013, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation conducted a study on financial inclusion in Brazil – 70 percent of respondents regularly paid at least one bill through agents. Abalroado comments: “If we look at similar countries, for example Brazil, who bank the majority their population through agent banking, I do think that agent banking and mobile are solutions to approaching the majority of the Mozambican population. “In Mozambique, we have around 600 branches overall, and you have to bear in mind that this is a
– Marco Abalroado Head of Digital
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huge country with 2,500 km from the north to south and 1,000 from East to West. 600 branches is literally nothing, if you compare it to the benchmarks that you have in surrounding countries like South Africa. In order to have the country covered, we would need around 3,000 branches. And realistically that’s not going to happen.� Abalroado stresses that Moza Banco wants to
service rural and peripheral areas of Mozambique, along with urban sectors. He strongly believes that a large network of banking agents is the key to such financial inclusion. Moza Banco is currently launching its agent banking project in Mozambique. When in fruition, customers will be able to process top ups, transfers, deposits and pay for services there. “The first steps will be for the majority of the population
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800+
to approach to the “Another big Number of Employees bank, where you can project where we’ve at MozaBanco receive remittances worked, especially on from people that live in the peripheral areas of the the big city. You can send city, was on the informal market,” money, you can do some of your utility Abalroado continues. Moza Banco payments,” Abalroado says. “Also, has created container branches (“it’s you can start your own account and literally a container”) in markets, do your own payments. This will be complete with bank tellers and ATMs. extremely important because the “Cities like Maputo, Napula, Beira… majority of the population are still the big cities in Mozambique have big afraid of entering a bank - they think markets around it, where the majority it’s only for a certain type of people.” of people buy their day-to-day stuff. Moza Banco is bringing the bank It’s also where some of the shops buy to neighbourhoods, with staff who their products. There are markets are already known to customers – that move probably millions of people that they are familiar with. dollars a day, 100 percent cash. So
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how can we enter there? We cannot open a branch inside of the market.” Container banks were Moza Banco’s solution. According to Abalroado, the majority of the population (that probably save their money under their mattress and pay for everything in cash) are slowly starting to open accounts via these container banks. Expansion Other Moza Banco initiatives include developing business credit products with local communities, launching USSD banking applications and partnering with the government to enable online payment to the state. Clearly, Moza Banco plans to continuously expand its reach. “When I arrived in Mozambique we had 50 people and two branches. We’re now around 800 and we have 59 branches,” Abalroado says. “As you can imagine it’s quite difficult to make a bank grow this fast in four, five years. You have to struggle with lots of things, from communications, to training staff 2000 kilometres away from you.” Abalroado puts the bank’s resilience down to both human capital and
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technological innovation. “We’ve hired brilliant staff…fortunately the majority of the junior staff that we hired in the beginning are now seniors and taking projects and departments into their hands,” Abalroado says. “Our shareholders, from day one, accepted that the way forward is technology. We are the most innovative Southern African bank for the African Banker Magazine for two years in a row, alongside with the Best Online Platform. We received several Visa awards for innovation for products that we were launching.” Where can Moza Banco go from here? Abalroado elaborates: “We’re in a recapitalisation process now and hopefully that will give us the boost to continue our history and become one of the most relevant banks in the country.” Moza Banco also hopes to consolidate its position as a retail bank and, of course, further increase financial inclusion. “We owe that to the country, to try to facilitate the process of bancarisation,” Abalroado concludes.
TECHNOLOGY
“I do think that agent banking and mobile are solutions to approaching the majority of the Mozambican population” – Marco Abalroado Head of Digital
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SKORPION ZINC: a Namibian flagship Written by Tom Wadlow Produced by Richard Deane
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S K O R P I O N M I N I N G C O M PA N Y
One of the world’s most important sources of high quality zinc, Skorpion Mining Company, part of Vedanta, is taking mining operations at the site to the
next level
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round 25 kilometres north of the town of Rosh Pinah in southern Namibia lies the eighth largest zinc mine in the world. Producing 1.5 Mtpa of oxide ore and with a nameplate capacity of 150,000 tpa of refined zinc, Skorpion Zinc is without doubt a flagship asset for the country’s mining industry. Comprising an open-pit mine and refinery, the operation provides crucial
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employment for the region, with 1,500 people making sure that the Special High Grade zinc produced is of the finest possible standard. Of this 1,500strong workforce, 800 are directly employed and 700 are contractors but, crucially, 96 percent are Namibians. Led by rising star Irvinne Simataa as General Manager since December 2015, plans are afoot to extend the life of the mine to 2020 and
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1500 Number of employees at Skorpion Mining Company
possibly beyond. Simataa’s rise in the industry is an impressive and rapid one, for when he graduated in Mining Engineering in 2005 Skorpion had already been in production for more than a year. In 2010, operations passed from Anglo American to Vedanta Resources in a deal worth $707 million, and one which places Vedanta among the most prolific global producers of zinc. New lease of life And it is yet more zinc that Skorpion is looking
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S K O R P I O N M I N I N G C O M PA N Y
Aveng Grinaker-LTA Mechanical & Electrical
Aveng Grinaker-LTA’s Mechanical & Electrical business unit provides fabrication, construction, maintenance and shutdown services to clients in the mining, oil and gas and power industries. These services are provided across the following disciplines: structural steel, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, piping and plate work. Aveng Grinaker-LTA have provided construction and maintenance services to Skorpion Zinc since 2000 and is proud to be associated with Skorpion Zinc and Vedanta. Aveng Grinaker-LTA is an operating group of Aveng.
Address: Aveng Park, 1 Jurgens Street, corner Jet Park Road, Jet Park, Boksburg, 1459, South Africa | Tel: 011 923 5000 www.aveng.co.za
‘Led by rising star Irvinne Simataa as General Manager since December 2015, plans are afoot to extend the life of the mine to 2020 and possibly beyond’ 54
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to produce and refine in the coming years. A project is underway to mine waste rock and expand the existing open pit, extending the life of the mine until at least 2020. To carry out the work in an economical timeframe, Skorpion Zinc has brought in expert contractors and equipment, with up to 450 jobs being created in the process. Existing Skorpion workers are also likely to be given preference in the recruiting process. These expansion plans look set to maximise the potential of what is widely regarded as one of the industry’s finest examples of zinc ore. The supergene zinc ore body is composed of alluvial accumulations of zinc carbonate and detrital silicate materials deposited within a paleochannel, making it a rare and sought after deposit. Another sought-after set of products mined at Skorpion comprise zinc oxides, namely smithsonite, hydrozincite, tarbuttite and willemite. In terms of quality processes, Skorpion’s operations involve solvent extractionelectrowinning metallurgy to process and refine zinc products, the only refinery of its kind to do so. Gamsberg Further afield, Skorpion Zinc could be joining forces with operations at a similar deposit of zinc in South Africa. The Gamsberg opencast mine is located
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S K O R P I O N M I N I N G C O M PA N Y
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20 kilometres east of the town of Aggeneys in the Northern Cape, and is one of the largest known, unexploited deposits of zinc in the world. While the grade of zinc is relatively low (between six and 6.5 percent), the current reserve and resource sits at 214 million tonnes, which translates into an estimated mine life of 30 years. To fully exploit this, further drilling will be required to prove additional reserves. Vedanta has awarded a contract to develop the mine at Gamsberg to Aveng Moolmans, with production expected to begin in 2018 and lasting around 13 years. The project is expected to employ 850900 people when operational. A total of 50 million bank cubic metres of waste and ore is expected to be mined in the first 44-month period, with at least some of the sulphide zinc concentrate being trucked over to the refinery at Skorpion. A decision on whether to build a standalone refinery at Gamsberg will not be considered until phase one is completed, meaning Skorpion has a vital role to play in the initial production process.
This is not the first involvement of Aveng in the Skorpion project. Back in 2003, the company built the original sulphuric acid plant, producing two types of acid industrial and chemically pure. The waste heat generated from the acid plant is used to produce steam and keep the Skorpion refinery at optimum temperature. There are also two 14MW electrode boilers to produce steam if the acid plant is down at any time. Giving back As well as proving to be a substantial employer for the Rosh Pinah region and beyond, Vedanta and Skorpion Zinc are giving back to the community in other ways. The Skorpion Zinc Karas Goat Project aims to boost the economic emancipation of rural people in Namibia. The project, which started in March 2012, aims to contribute towards poverty eradication in Namibia by affording rural, underprivileged families a sustainable entrepreneurial opportunity to improve their livelihoods
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S K O R P I O N M I N I N G C O M PA N Y
‘In 2010, operations passed from Anglo American to Vedanta Resources in a deal worth $707 million, and one which places Vedanta among the most prolific global producers of zinc’
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through goat farming. More than 60 percent of the beneficiaries of the project are women, a deliberate intervention to assist women-headed households in rural Namibia. Healthcare is another area in which Skorpion has invested heavily for Rosh Pinah. To help accommodate the rapid growth of the town, the company invested more than N$4 million in the upgrade of the Rosh Pinah State Clinic and construction of a satellite facility at nearby Tutungeni. Completed in 2012, this new development replaced a
system which only saw visiting doctors come to the area twice a month. By continuing to expand operations, employ locals and give back to the communities in which it serves, Skorpion Zinc and Vedanta will strengthen its legacy in Namibia and South Africa, making it a global capital for the production of zinc.
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CHAMBER OF MINES OF NAMIBIA (CoM) Article supplied by CoM
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The Chamber of Mines of Namibia (CoM) was officially inaugurated on 9 May 1969 by some 19 mining and exploration companies at the Windhoek Grand Hotel, with an official constitution which was adopted ten years later
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he Chamber of Mines of Namibia (CoM) was officially inaugurated on 9 May 1969 by some 19 mining and exploration companies at the Windhoek Grand Hotel, with an official constitution which was adopted ten years later. The organisation was established with the sole mandate to protect the interests of its members while promoting sustainable growth of mining and exploration so as to maximise economic gain for the Namibian
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nation. The mission of the CoM is to “efficiently promote, encourage, protect, foster and contribute to the growth of responsible exploration and mining in Namibia to the benefit of the Country and all stakeholders.� The CoM is a self-regulating body which is governed by a robust Constitution and Code of Conduct and Ethics that outlines a prudent set of rules and regulations with which members are prescribed to comply and yields the organisation authority to expel members which are
non-compliant. The Code of Conduct and Ethics also encompasses environment, labour and industrial relations, safety and intellectual property rights standards to name a few, which members are compelled to adhere to. The organisation also plays a vital role in shaping and influencing the National policy and the regulatory framework within which the mining sector operates. Ensuring that Namibia remains an attractive and favourable destination for investment in the mining sector is one of the key functions of the CoM. In the 2014 Fraser Institute Survey of Mining companies report, Namibia was ranked as the most attractive destination for mining in Africa with regard to its regulatory framework and mineral endowment. The CoM in partnership with the Government of Namibia strive to sustain and maintain Namibia’s top status as a sought after destination for investment into mining as both parties recognise and acknowledge this sector to be the backbone of the Namibian economy.
“In the 2014 Fraser Institute Survey of Mining companies report, Namibia was ranked as the most attractive destination for mining in Africa with regard to its regulatory framework and mineral endowment”
Namibia’s favourable investment is not only reflected in international bench marking reports, but more importantly in the very growth of the mining sector recorded during the last five years. Notwithstanding a depressed and uncertain global macro-economic environment, Namibia has attracted an impressive US$ 3 billion worth of investment into the local mining sector during the period in question. This has ultimately lead to the development of three new mines and the creation of
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CHAMBER OF MINES OF NAMIBIA (COM)
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approximately 2,000 new permanent jobs. The country is set to become the world’s second largest uranium producer as Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine gears for first production in the last quarter of 2016 and ramps to full production by end of 2017. New production from B2Gold’s Otjikoto gold mine trebled Namibia’s gold output in 2015, and Weatherly’s Tschudi mine began producing copper cathode in February 2015, paving the way for other manufacturing opportunities in Namibia. This is not to mention various reinvestments made by the sector, one of the most recent being a
diamond exploration vessel constructed at a cost of US$139 million which is owned by Debmarine Namibia. The Namibian mining sector is governed largely by two pieces of legislation, the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act of 1992, which is currently under review and the Diamond Act of 1999. Benefits to Chamber membership are numerous, but of the most important is the advocacy that the CoM provides, an organisation which recognises the importance of mining in achieving socioeconomic development and thus strives towards the best possible outcomes for the mining sector and the country at large, while ensuring that these are achieved according to industry best practices and in a manner which is environmentally and economically sustainable.
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