Mining and Development: Lessons Learnt from South Africa and Beyond

The document examines the relationship between mining and development in Africa, using South Africa as a primary case study. It argues that the 'resource curse' is not deterministic and that the quality of development depends on the strength and nature of a country's institutions. In South Africa, the author identifies failures in policy stability, legislative clarity, and labour relations as key barriers to growth. The briefing recommends that African governments prioritize legislative clarity over executive discretion, integrate labour and mining policies through mechanisms like profit-sharing, and build trust between the state, business, and labour to ensure sustainable economic diversification.

• Sub-Saharan Africa's reliance on mining for economic growth has not consistently translated into high human development; the region's average ore and metal exports are 18.9% of total merchandise exports, while its human development score is only 54.6.
• The 'resource curse' is mediated by institutions; countries that establish the rule of law, protect property rights, and limit executive power can use resource wealth to catalyze investment in human and physical capital and achieve economic diversification.
• Many African mining codes are undermined by secret contract negotiations, corruption, and patronage, which hinder tax administration and the legitimacy of foreign mining operations.
• South Africa's mining industry underperformed during the 2001–2008 commodity boom, contracting by 1% per year while its top 20 competitors grew by 5% per year, partly due to a lack of policy stability and legislative clarity in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002.
• South Africa's Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 is described as fundamentally undemocratic because it does not require balloting before strike action, which grants union leadership excessive power over rank-and-file members.
• To resolve destructive labour tensions in the mining sector, the author suggests establishing employee share ownership schemes and profit-sharing arrangements to align the incentives of unions and mining companies.

APA

Harvey, R. (2014). Mining and Development: Lessons Learnt from South Africa and Beyond. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Policy-Briefing-86.pdf

Chicago

Harvey, Ross. Mining and Development: Lessons Learnt from South Africa and Beyond. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2014. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Policy-Briefing-86.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harvey |first1=Ross |title=Mining and Development: Lessons Learnt from South Africa and Beyond |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=April 2014 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Policy-Briefing-86.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harvey2014mining, author = {Harvey, Ross}, title = {{Mining and Development: Lessons Learnt from South Africa and Beyond}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2014}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Policy-Briefing-86.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }