ESG

As part of our commitment to sustainability and community impact, Mining Indaba partnered with Township® to create eco-friendly bags for Mining Indaba 2026.

Sustainable Materials:

• Strap: Natural cotton, locally sourced from Southern African countries.
• Inside: Recycled banner material from previous Mining Indaba events and conferences.
• Outside: Recycled PET felt made from plastic bottles collected across South Africa.

Supporting Communities:

• 4 cooperatives were engaged, employing 40 women.
• A total of 18,000 working hours were dedicated to the project.
• Every bag represents meaningful work and sustainable progress.

At Mining Indaba, sustainability goes beyond environmental stewardship — it’s about investing in people, education, and opportunity. Through our partnership with Breadline Africa and Mining Indaba, we’re helping transform early childhood development (ECD) in underserved South African communities. Mining Indaba has funded the reconstruction of the Masonwabe Educare Centre in Gugulethu, Cape Town, creating a safe, hygienic, and inspiring learning environment for 76 children. In addition, a repurposed Mining Indaba container has been transformed into a Grade R classroom and community hub for Ubunye Educare in Dunoon.

The school participated in a recycling initiative, receiving payment for the paper materials we donated. With the funds earned, they purchased seeds and tools to expand their community vegetable garden — a sustainable project that continues to provide nutritious meals to feed the children.

Thanks to this contribution, 750 children were fed, demonstrating how even leftover materials can generate meaningful and lasting community impact.

We proudly support Ladles of Love through their Nourish Our Children Programme, which provides nutritious meals to over 70 children at Masonwabe EDC. Our contributions help ensure that each child receives two healthy meals every day, giving them consistent access to essential nutrients.

Through Mining Indaba’s ongoing partnership and donations, the programme not only sustains daily meal provision but also delivers nutrition education workshops, empowering children and their caregivers with knowledge about healthy and affordable diets.

At Mining Indaba, we’re committed to reducing our environmental footprint through innovative and sustainable event design. We collaborated with Jane & Paul, a small independent company founded post-pandemic, to design a new sustainable range of exhibition infrastructure.
 

• Together, we developed a flat-pack, modular system that significantly lowers the carbon footprint associated with transport and packaging.
• The infrastructure is crafted from South African pine, a fast-growing, renewable, and sustainably sourced material.
• A CNC-cut joining mechanism was used to eliminate the need for screws, nails, or pins. This allows the units to be flat-packed, easily stored, and reused across multiple events.

Kidz Positive serves as an income generation initiative, empowering mothers and caregivers of children impacted by HIV/AIDS to earn a livelihood. Workers collect raw materials weekly, either from home or at the local office in Cape Town, as shown in the images below. This year, Kidz Positive manufactured notebooks, pens, and ministerial folders for our delegates, essential tools for them to engage effectively in their roles. 

At Mining Indaba, sustainability is embedded in every stage of our event design. With ten content stages, the simplest option would be to build brand-new sets each year — using fresh raw materials and disposing of them afterwards. Instead, we are committed to a circular approach that focuses on reducing waste, reusing existing material, and recycling wherever possible. By simplifying stage structures or using creative lighting solutions, we significantly minimise the volume of new materials required.
 

• 2023: Our main stage was built entirely from sustainably sourced South African pine, setting a new standard for eco-conscious event design.
• 2024: We reduced the size of our main stage and repurposed the left-over materials to create two additional stages.
• 2025: Key components from the 2023 stage continued to feature across multiple content stages. In partnership with our AV supplier, IVTM, we also began storing all stage elements for future reuse — further limiting our environmental impact.
• 2026: Existing materials remain central to our stage-building strategy. This year’s stages — named after iconic African geographical locations — will incorporate reused elements alongside increased use of fabric to add visual detail. All fabric will be recycled after the event to form the inner lining of the 2027 delegate bags. Any items that cannot be reused are returned to IVTM, where they are repurposed for other projects within their workshops. 

Each year, these designs showcase how thoughtful planning can drive environmental impact without compromising quality or experience.