In the life-cycle of towns an event, or the absence thereof, can cause a threat to the future sustainability of the town. In the case of mining towns, especially mine-managed towns such as Oranjemund, business imperatives result in a critical reliance being established between the mine and a town or its community.

Critical reliance means that when the mine materially closes, the community’s social and socio-economic structures and particularly its economic livelihood are at risk of collapse, challenging the town’s sustainable reason for being post-mining. 

Town Transformation is therefore a specialised programme, directed by one or several town stakeholders, targeted at severing this critical dependency in a responsible manner to ensure a stable, sustainable town post mine closure, albeit at different levels of socioeconomic or economic activity. 

The main objective is specifically to diversify the town’s economy alongside a single, reliant industry before an economic collapse occurs. Such transformations take on average 15 years to achieve.