The Northern Cape has the potential to unlock significant revenue from a revitalised and expanded mining sector, according to Bongani Motsa, acting chief economist for the Minerals Council South Africa, who was addressing a stakeholders’ collaboration session in Sandton ahead of the upcoming Northern Cape Investment and Jobs Conference 2026, which will be hosted in Kimberley from April 13-15.
Motsa said the Northern Cape has significant reserves of manganese and rare-earth minerals, which could catalyse economic growth in the province and South Africa as a whole.
“It is our view that the Northern Cape can be South Africa’s next mining hub, and could also be the next beneficiation centre for manganese and iron ore. But there must be a deliberate strategy to extract value, and planning must start now,” Motsa said.
He also called for more investment in beneficiation, with a focus on minerals beneficiation that addresses South Africa’s own needs.
A high-potential region
Mining is a key focus of the Northern Cape government’s development plan. Northern Cape premier Dr Zamani Saul told the collaboration session that mining is one of six critical pillars of the province’s industrialisation and development strategy, along with infrastructure development and transport corridors to support an expanded mining sector.
Describing the Northern Cape as one of South Africa’s most underexplored and underutilised yet highest potential regions, the premier invited business and investors to reimagine the Northern Cape not as a province on the periphery of the economy, but as a future-facing globally competitive industrial hub.
“Across the world, industrial advantage is shifting towards regions that offer four things: abundant green energy; proximity to natural resources; a trained skills base; and access to markets through reliable infrastructure,” Saul said. “This shift is drawing value chains back towards resource locations and the Northern Cape is firmly on this trajectory. The Northern Cape offers a scale of opportunities that few in the world can match. It is a large and underused industrial landscape with room for energy, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, logistics and tourism.”
He noted that global demand for critical minerals such as manganese, copper, zinc and other strategic minerals is rising sharply.
“The Northern Cape holds globally significant deposits of these minerals and is well positioned to become a dependable, long-term supplier to global manufacturing value chains. We are now moving up the value chain to a new greener smelting capacity for zinc, manganese, iron ore, copper and lime, and key investors are already deeply invested in the Northern Cape,” he said.
Government, business, investors and stakeholders will meet in Kimberley next month to discuss opportunities and partnerships to stimulate the Northern Cape’s industrial development plans.
The Northern Cape Investment and Jobs Conference will be held from April 13-15 2026 at the Mittah Seperepere International Convention Centre in Kimberley. For more information, and to register your interest in attending visit https://ncijc.org.za/.
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