Final numbers were unclear, but were expected to be less than the 7800 delegates that attended the 2013 edition, though the city’s accommodation was fully booked.
 
What was apparent was the positive mood of those who did attend.
 
Some put it down to the beautiful setting of Cape Town, particularly given the large number of North Americans and Europeans fleeing the cold.
 
Others genuinely believe the worst is over and the equity markets are reopening for business.
 
The GMP Securities Jamboree was again the precursor event on Friday and Saturday, with many Australian companies presenting and not going on to speak at Indaba.
 
At Indaba, the exhibition hall was full, with the Austrade-sponsored Australia Lounge proving to be a popular meeting space.
 
With some very elaborate booths, including a number of two-storey set-ups, companies were going out of their way to attract attention.
 
Aggreko held wine tasting at its booth, while Minxcon had slushy machines.
 
But a high number of Australian delegates expressed frustration over the case of “spot the mining company” in the exhibition hall, and anger over the bulk of the booths this year being occupied by service providers.
 
The common complaint was that Indaba had become a trade show rather than a mining investment conference, which is what it proclaims to be.
 
But companies such as Tawana Resources, which is completing a scoping study, used it to have meetings with service providers to assist with costings.
 
Those mining and exploration companies that did have booths said they were busy with a constant flow of traffic, but were frustrated that the traffic comprised mostly sales people rather than investors.
 
Many investors were in Cape Town but never bothered to buy delegate passes, something a number of Australians were seriously considering doing next year.
 
Most of the serious meetings, and wheeling and dealing now happen offsite at one of the many hotels around town, reducing a need to attend the main event.
 
South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu kicked off the speeches on the first proper day of the conference with a surprisingly positive talk which seemed to gloss over the platinum strike currently crippling producers.
 
Rio Tinto Diamonds and Minerals CEO Alan Davies followed and, like last year, disappointed with the lack of clarity on the progress at the massive Simandou iron ore project.
 
Other speakers on Tuesday included Anglo American – though unfortunately, charismatic Australian CEO Mark Cutifani was missing due to a reported hip operation – and his successor at AngloGold Ashanti, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan.
 
Wednesday saw Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett as the opening keynote, a rarity that he acknowledged as a non-African minister.
 
Barnett was probably hoping to escape some of the storm surrounding his controversial shark cull but that wasn’t the case, with a modest protest set up outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
 
Amusingly, Barnett went out to inspect the protest and the crowd obviously didn’t recognise him.
 
Mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland followed and kicked off his presentation by expressing his concerns over the current tension in the South African platinum sector.
 
Following that, Friedland spoke for around 40 minutes on the discoveries which have made him so famous – Fort Knox, Voisey’s Bay, Oyu Tolgoi and now, Kamoa and Platreef.
 
Interestingly, despite leaving Turquoise Hill Resources two years ago when Rio Tinto took control, Friedland referred to the company as “we” when talking about the first concentrate shipments last year.
 
Former Rio boss Tom Albanese also spoke, representing Vedanta Resources, where he is now a director.
 
Few Australian companies presented this year – the ones that did included Gryphon Minerals, Sundance Resources and Peninsula Energy – and several of those who didn’t chose not to due to the price.
 
And some said having a booth wasn’t worth it so numbers may dwindle next year.
 
Even for those not speaking, having a booth or even buying a delegate pass, the general consensus was that Indaba remains the must-do event for companies with interests in Africa – though that may not reflect in next year’s attendance numbers.
 
 
 
Finally, Bill Turner’s Australian African Mining Industry Group (AAMIG) had a good conference, signing up South African major Gold Fields as a member.