TWO key documents for the South African
mining industry are nearing completion, bringing certainty to the
sector, Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant says.
The long-awaited amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act will be finalised by November, Oliphant said at the Junior Indaba mining conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The draft amendments were returned to Parliament early in 2015 by President Jacob Zuma, highlighting a number of areas of concern that were unlikely to pass constitutional muster.
Delegates at the conference bemoaned the lack of regulatory certainty and the years it has taken to draw up the amendments, and the wait of more than a year to address the President’s concerns with the changes.
There is a parliamentary recess that will delay the passing of the draft act through the final process, Oliphant said.
The second key area of concern is the third version of the Mining Charter, which describes and measures transformation in the mining sector to ensure greater participation of black South Africans in the historically white-owned industry.
In April, the department gazetted the third version of the charter, which had been drawn up without consulting the industry. The version tightened up the wording around black ownership obligations and other targets, and raised the level of black participation across a broad range of areas including management, procurement and services.
The window for public submissions on the draft charter closed on Tuesday and the department will spend the next 30 days considering the inputs and come up with a final version of the charter, Oliphant said.
The minister could extend the 30-day period, but so far there had been no discussion within the department about this option, he said.
While there may be ad-hoc consultations with various players to clarify points on their submissions there would be no full-blown negotiations, he said.
The Chamber of Mines has held extensive talks with the department about the charter.
The chamber has taken the department to court to seek a declaratory order around the once-empowered, always empowered aspect of the first two versions of the charter. The chamber argues that empowerment deals to secure a minimum 26% black ownership as stipulated in the charter do not have to be continuously topped up. The department disagrees and insists companies always be 26% black owned, no matter the reason for it falling below that level.
Oliphant said the department and chamber were in talks outside the court process to find a way to resolve the impasse without resorting to the court.
The long-awaited amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act will be finalised by November, Oliphant said at the Junior Indaba mining conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The draft amendments were returned to Parliament early in 2015 by President Jacob Zuma, highlighting a number of areas of concern that were unlikely to pass constitutional muster.
Delegates at the conference bemoaned the lack of regulatory certainty and the years it has taken to draw up the amendments, and the wait of more than a year to address the President’s concerns with the changes.
There is a parliamentary recess that will delay the passing of the draft act through the final process, Oliphant said.
The second key area of concern is the third version of the Mining Charter, which describes and measures transformation in the mining sector to ensure greater participation of black South Africans in the historically white-owned industry.
In April, the department gazetted the third version of the charter, which had been drawn up without consulting the industry. The version tightened up the wording around black ownership obligations and other targets, and raised the level of black participation across a broad range of areas including management, procurement and services.
The window for public submissions on the draft charter closed on Tuesday and the department will spend the next 30 days considering the inputs and come up with a final version of the charter, Oliphant said.
The minister could extend the 30-day period, but so far there had been no discussion within the department about this option, he said.
While there may be ad-hoc consultations with various players to clarify points on their submissions there would be no full-blown negotiations, he said.
The Chamber of Mines has held extensive talks with the department about the charter.
The chamber has taken the department to court to seek a declaratory order around the once-empowered, always empowered aspect of the first two versions of the charter. The chamber argues that empowerment deals to secure a minimum 26% black ownership as stipulated in the charter do not have to be continuously topped up. The department disagrees and insists companies always be 26% black owned, no matter the reason for it falling below that level.
Oliphant said the department and chamber were in talks outside the court process to find a way to resolve the impasse without resorting to the court.
No comments:
Post a Comment