ADDRESS BY

HONOURABLE MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES

Mr SAMSON GWEDE MANTASHE

ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEBATE ON VOTE 29: Mineral Resources

15th May 2018, Cape Town

Honourable Chairperson

Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Cde Godfrey Oliphant

Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources. We take this moment, once more, to send condolences to Cde Zet Luzipho and his family, who buried their father this past weekend.

Honourable Members

Invited Guests

As Nelson Mandela intimated, we have always known that our freedom would be incomplete until the people of Palestine are also free. These words are even more true today, having witnessed the carnage meted out by the Israeli forces in Gaza yesterday.

We send our sympathies and solidarity to the people of Palestine. We commend the Department of International Relations for its response by withdrawing our country’s Ambassador to Israel. Such is our commitment to our solidarity, as the ANC.

The Council for Geoscience (CGS) joins the geoscience community in mourning the passing of Professor Marian Tredoux, Associate Professor of the Department of Geology at the University of the Free State. Prof. Tredoux was a devoted geoscientist who had an exceptional career spanning over 30 years. The geological community recently bestowed the highest honour of naming a mineral after her. The mineral, which contains nickel, antimony and oxygen, was named “tredouxite” in acknowledgement of her immense contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of the geosciences. The CGS joins the geoscience community in expressing its heartfelt condolences to Prof. Tredoux’s family, her students, the university, her colleagues and the geoscience community at large. Prof. Tredoux’s passion and dedication to her work will be sorely missed by those whose lives she impacted.

For further information, please contact Mahlatse Mononela: telephone: +27(0)12 841 1225; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Council for Geoscience (CGS) welcomes the nomination as an award finalist for the Vision 2030 Awards, which will be held on the 21 June 2018, at Emperors Palace Johannesburg. The CGS will be competing against a selected group of peer institutions for the Science & Technology Award category. The finalists will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges who will painstakingly assess the extent to which the institutions advance the science knowledge base to tackle the societal challenges.

The Council for Geoscience CEO, Mr Mosa Mabuza and Mintek counterpart, Mr David Msiza concluded an unprecedented Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two science councils.

The collaboration aims to strengthen the mining value chain research and optimize the scientific response to societal challenges. Both CEO’s expressed enthusiasm on implementing synergistic programmes to effect the collaboration and deliver tangible results.

The CEO of the Council for Geoscience is thrilled to welcome new executive managers; Dr Jonty Tshipa for Corporate Services, Ms Refilwe Shelembe for Geological Resources and Dr David Khoza for Applied Geoscience. The CGS looks forward to an exciting future and wishes them great success in their new roles.

The Council for Geoscience can confirm that an earthquake occurred in the far West Rand gold mine area on 3 May 2018 at 13:17 South African Standard Time. The earthquake registered a preliminary 2.1 on the local magnitude scale as determined with seismograph stations of the South African Seismograph Network operated by the Council for Geoscience. The Council for Geoscience shall confirm the basis of the seismic event upon iterative review of the preliminary data by a seismologist.

For media enquiries please contact Mr Ian Saunders on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: 012 841 1456

The Council for Geoscience reports an earthquake occurrence in the Far West Rand gold mine area on 29 June 2018 at 03:17 South African Standard Time. The earthquake registered a preliminary 3.1 on the local magnitude scale as determined with seismograph stations of the South African Seismograph Network. 

For media enquiries please contact Mr Ian Saunders on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Tel: 012 841 1456