The Mineral Beneficiation Action Plan (MBAP), which is currently in draft form, should be finalised by the end of March 2015, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has confirmed. The department is leading the drafting process, which also involves the National Treasury, the Economic Development Department, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the Department of Science and Technology.

The Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development Cluster announced this week that the MBAP would seek to advance “local value-addition across five mineral value-chains, namely, iron-ore and steel, platinum-group metals, polymers, titanium and mining inputs”.

In response to questions posed by Engineering News Online, DTI deputy DG Garth Strachan reported that the main objective of the MBAP was to break down the objectives of the ‘Beneficiation Strategy’ into incremental and achievable targets.

It would also seek to identify specific policies and projects to enable South Africa to leverage its “comparative resource advantage to build a dynamic industrial economy”.

Some elements of the plan would be incorporated into the mineral beneficiation section of the 2015/16 version of the rolling Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap), which is overseen by the DTI. But the other departments would also play a role in implementation, with the Ipap mainly focusing on the project components.

Strachan could not be drawn on whether the MBAP would incorporate the designation of certain minerals as strategic, saying only that the subject of possible designation (or any other measure) resided with the DMR and was also subject to the signing of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill.

He confirmed, however, that the MBAP did not specifically define what government termed “developmental prices” for inputs such as steel and polymers. However, it would address access to and pricing of inputs into the selected value chains. “This will not be limited to mineral inputs only but the others as well,” Strachan explained, referring specifically to skills, electricity and logistics.

The department did not anticipate that the beneficiation policies and programmes would face the implementation difficulties currently being experienced in the metal scrap sector – domestic scrap consumers had reported that the preferential-pricing system launched in 2013 was failing to deliver improved scrap pricing and availability.

“The dynamics in scrap steel are very different from the issues around primary minerals beneficiation and we don’t expect the same challenges. In primary minerals beneficiation the players are fewer, more long-term focused, have been in the business for decades and have much larger investments than in scrap.”

But Strachan insisted that the MBAP would be fully canvassed with stakeholders before implementation, highlighting that there had been wide consultation on the projects being proposed for the next iteration of Ipap.

“The DTI remains convinced that there are real opportunities to be realised in the beneficiation space and invites all stakeholders to participate.

“The time for the dismissive approach that it can never be done should be replaced by fruitful engagements focusing on what can be done and how we can do it to maximise the benefit for South Africa.”