Mining companies have traditionally been judged by fairly simple measures: tonnes mined, grades recovered, costs controlled and reserves replaced.

That definition is starting to look incomplete.

Across South Africa, some mining businesses are increasingly becoming energy producers and buyers, infrastructure developers, community investors and, in some cases, catalysts for industries such as agriculture.

The shift raises a bigger question for the sector: what exactly is a mining company going to look like 10 or 20 years from now?

It is a question mining executive and South African Mining Youth Association board member Sir Ian Chauke has already been asking. In a discussion on how traditional industries are being reconfigured, Mr Chauke challenged mining companies to think beyond tonnes and consider mines as platforms for clean energy, water systems, connectivity and even what he described as agri-mining models.

His conclusion was particularly striking: "The next mining giant won't just extract from the ground. It will build above it."

That idea is beginning to look less theoretical.

Energy is becoming part of the mine itself

One of the clearest examples is at Exxaro Resources' Grootegeluk mine in Limpopo. In 2026, Exxaro commissioned its 68 MW Lephalale Solar Project, developed through its renewable energy business Cennergi. The R1.7 billion facility comprises more than 129,000 solar modules and supplies renewable electricity directly to Grootegeluk.

Exxaro expects the project to reduce its Scope 2 emissions by approximately 17% while saving the mine around R100 million a year in electricity costs. That is important because it changes the conversation around renewable energy at mines. Solar is no longer simply an environmental project sitting alongside the operation. It is becoming part of the operating model itself, influencing energy security, costs and long-term competitiveness.

A similar shift is happening through Envusa Energy, the renewable energy platform created by Anglo American and EDF Power Solutions. Its Koruson 2 portfolio comprises 520 MW of wind and solar capacity, with the electricity being wheeled through the national grid to industrial customers including Kumba Iron Ore, De Beers and Valterra Platinum. By April 2026, 380 MW from the Mooi Plaats solar and Umsobomvu wind projects had already reached commercial operation.

Sibanye-Stillwater is moving in the same direction. Its South African renewable energy programme now represents a 725 MW portfolio of private renewable energy projects, including a 138 MW renewable electricity agreement concluded with NOA in February 2026.

These are no longer isolated experiments. They point to a mining industry increasingly treating electricity as strategic infrastructure.

The grid may become as important as the orebody

There is, however, a limitation. Mining companies can develop renewable projects, sign power purchase agreements and finance generation capacity, but South Africa still needs the transmission infrastructure capable of moving that electricity.

Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane highlighted this in the organisation's 2026 State of the Mining Nation address, describing expansion of the constrained transmission grid as "a vital step to encourage investment in renewable energy projects."

The mining industry welcomed the improvement in electricity availability, but the Minerals Council also pointed to the extraordinary increase in electricity prices faced by large industrial users since 2008.

This means the energy question facing mining has two sides. Companies need cleaner electricity, but they also need reliable, affordable and accessible electricity. Without transmission, generation capacity alone cannot solve the problem. That is why the convergence between mining and energy is likely to deepen.

And then there is agriculture

The transition does not necessarily end with electricity. In August, Exxaro opened a R36 million sheep shearing and hydroponics facility in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape. Developed through the Matla Mine Social and Labour Plan, the project combines livestock farming with hydroponic agricultural technology and is intended to support employment, food production and sustainable income generation across three villages.

It is a very different type of project from a solar farm or mining operation, but it speaks to the same underlying idea. Mining companies possess capital, land, procurement networks, engineering capability, infrastructure and long-term relationships with communities. The question is whether those capabilities can create economic activity that lasts beyond extraction.

This is particularly important when mine closure is considered. Mine rehabilitation has traditionally been viewed primarily as an environmental obligation. The next step may be to think about whether rehabilitated land, mine infrastructure and surrounding economic ecosystems can support agriculture, renewable energy, manufacturing or other productive uses. That is where Chauke's idea of the mine becoming a broader platform becomes especially interesting.

Mining's next competitive advantage may sit outside the pit

There is also a business argument behind all of this. Renewable power can reduce exposure to electricity costs. Distributed generation can improve energy resilience. Agricultural and enterprise projects can build stronger local economies. Infrastructure created for mining can potentially support other industries.

And greater economic activity around mining communities could create something the industry has struggled with for decades: an economy capable of surviving the mine itself.

Nolitha Fakude, Chair of Anglo American South Africa and Chair of Envusa Energy, captured another important part of the transition when speaking about the Koruson 2 renewable energy development: "Our progress as a nation is not something that happens to us. It is something we choose to build together."

Envusa itself is targeting a renewable energy pipeline of between 3 GW and 5 GW by 2030, illustrating just how large the crossover between mining and power could eventually become.

The mine of the future will still have to mine efficiently. It will still need safe operations, strong geology, disciplined capital allocation and competitive processing. But increasingly, that may only be the starting point.

The mining company of the future could simultaneously be a mineral producer, renewable energy customer or developer, infrastructure partner, technology adopter and catalyst for completely different industries around its operations.

The question may therefore no longer be simply what can we extract from this resource? It may be: what can we build around it that remains valuable long after the resource is gone.