Mining industry mourns the loss of Barry Davison
The MCSA expressed its condolences to Davison’s family and friends in a statement.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to Barry’s family and friends, and we similarly mourn the loss of a man who was a true leader and played a vital role in the leadership of the mining industry at a volatile time of sweeping new regulations more than two decades ago,” said Mzila Mthenjane, MCSA CEO.
Davison was a long-standing board member and president of the then-Chamber of Mines in 2002 and 2003, at a time when the new Mineral Resources Development Act was a bill and the mining industry was advocating a legislative and regulatory environment conducive to allow the sector to conduct its operations at an optimal level of success.
He was a key negotiator in the talks between the Chamber of Mines, now the Minerals Council South Africa, and the government on these matters.
Davison, who was executive chairman of Anglo American Platinum at the time, supported transformation of the mining industry as political and economic objectives so that more people could be involved in the economy.
As noted in the Chamber of Mines’ 2003 annual report, proof of the mining industry’s acceptance of the transformation imperative was the fact that mining was the first of South Africa’s commercial and industrial sectors to work together with a government department and other major stakeholders to develop a broad-based socio-economic empowerment Mining Charter.
He served in leadership positions in Anglo American Platinum and Anglo American as well as as a director in listed companies including Nedbank, Kumba, Samancor and Tongaat Hulett.
He was an independent non-executive director at Sibanye-Stillwater.