OUR BIGGEST YEAR YET
2020 was our 5th year at Investing in African Mining Indaba, the largest mining event in Africa. Opportunities like Mining Indaba allow African and global mining partners to connect and create innovative solutions that shape the industry. We decided to make 2020 our biggest year at Mining Indaba yet! One of our favourite features of Mining Indaba is that people from all over Africa attend — it’s not just a regional event like may other trade shows. It’s a great opportunity to show off our products continent-wide.
In the past, we never had any booth or presence at Mining Indaba besides our representatives walking around the show and networking. Mining Indaba has an amazing matchmaking platform where you can see every mining company, delegate, sponsor, etc., that’s going to be at the event. The platform allows you to book meetings and share your value proposition. This adds a lot of value to Mining Indaba if you don’t have a booth because you still have an opportunity to meet with many people and schedule meetings before you even get there.
With Cypher Environmental’s growing success, a strong team in Africa, and plenty of great reference materials, we thought this would be the year to make a big splash with the Gold Sponsorship of the Canada Pavilion. We had a small army of people at Mining Indaba to support Cypher Environmental’s booth. Our distributors from Finland, China, South Africa and reps from Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique were all in attendance, and of course, Canadian reps.
Each day had its own highlight.
DAY 1
Our President, Todd Burns, had the pleasure of being a panelist on a talk about cleantech and water reduction on the Canada Smart Mining 2020 Panel Session with other industry leaders. Reducing water intensity is a huge issue for the mining industry, and Cypher Environmental is committed to providing innovative solutions that help in this regard. Namely the use of our DUST/BLOKR® product to control dust on haul roads, as opposed to the use of millions of liters of water daily to control dust, which is fast becoming an unsustainable practice.
Of course, Monday night at Indaba always brings with it one of our favourite events, the Anglo American Gala Night at the Vergelegen Wine Estate. It has a rich history, and was voted best wine in Africa in 2019. This gala was another chance to connect with people from Mining Indaba.
DAY 2
Cypher Environmental hosted the opening cocktail reception at the Canada Pavilion, organized by the Canadian Council on Africa, and we had the opportunity to make the opening remarks at the reception along with the Hon. Mary Ng, Canadian Federal Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, who gave a nice speech on Cypher and our continued trajectory of growth in the Canadian cleantech exporting sector.
DAY 3
At the South African Business Event – “accelerate Mining Investment Through Innovation,” Todd Burns shared Cypher Environmental’s mining solutions for Africa and how we can reduce operating expenses and our environmental footprint.
We heard from B2Gold, an inspiring company doing great things like their “Rhino Gold Bar” initiative where 100% of the proceeds go towards saving rhinos. We bought a 1oz gold bar to support them! B2Gold has several other admirable initiatives that make them a major inspiration as a company. Their Corporate Social Investment strategy involves two farms dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and a solar farm that produces 1/3 of the electricity used in mines. We are also happy to say that not only did Todd and Andrew Lindsay, SVP of Business Development for Cypher, buy several 1/2oz gold bars for their children (on top of Cypher’s purchase), but our distribution partners at the event also invested to support the cause!
To wrap up our busiest day, Cypher hosted a boat ride to enjoy Cape Town, and listen to Johnny Clegg’s music. Johnny Clegg and Mandela were an inspiration for us — having convictions towards always doing what’s right, no matter the consequences were. Cypher wants to take a similar approach.
DAY 4
That’s a wrap for Mining Indaba! Now, we prepare for the rest of the MSTA Canada Trade Mission with a VIP networking event and wine tasting in Stellenbosch — we were serious when we said we were all about a healthy work/play balance!
The next day, Andrew Lindsay headed to the Rosh Pinah Mine in Namibia with MSTA Canada, our South African distributor – Modi Mining, and a small delegation of other Canadian mine suppliers. Rosh Pinah is an underground zinc-lead mine with a 2,000 tonne per day milling operation that’s been in operation since 1969.
The last few days in Namibia were filled with meetings, site visits, and great company. Cypher was delighted to meet with Veston Malango, CEO of the Namibian Chamber of Mines to discuss what Corporate Social Investment could look like for us in Namibia.
B2Gold was gracious hosts when we visited the Otjikoto mine. We particularly enjoyed the nature reserve and learning about everything B2Gold is doing for Africa. We admire the companies that echo our values to always do what’s right. We loved our time at Mining Indaba and we look forward to increased collaboration with South Africa to build a cleaner, more sustainable future.
