JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The time has come for mining companies to have a dedicated permit team to ensure optimal project success in the current challenging mining environment, De Beers external and corporate affairs executive head Sakhile Ngcobo said on Tuesday.

Speaking at Resourceful Events' Streamlining Mining Permit Approvals Africa conference, in Sandton, he stated that the challenges facing the mining industry, and the permitting space, in particular, included concerns relating to social and labour plans, safety stoppages, union activism, regulatory compliance and transformation in mining.

“These are complex issues that need a better understanding and we have to be more proactive in understanding the issues, the requirements, who the stakeholders are and how the government views the mining company and the operation,” said Ngcobo, who is also a South African Diamonds and Precious Metals Regulator nonexecutive board member.

He emphasised the need for a better understanding and management strategy relating to permitting, pointing out that most mining project delays could be attributed to permitting issues.

“In some areas in Africa, there are up to 1 000 permits that a mining project has to comply with, and often various permits are handled by different departments in companies. But these have to be pulled together,” he said.

Ngcobo further outlined a suggested strategy that companies could follow to deal effectively with the issue of permits.

He stated that, to create a proper mining permit system, companies firstly had to form a multistakeholder forum to deal with the company’s permit requirements.

Further, the roles with regard to permit management had to be clearly defined on a mining and corporate level.

After this was done, a company should conduct a baseline study of all permits required, through which the company should seek to "fully understand what each permit asks and means".

Once this was done, a gap analysis should be conducted, after which a permitting stakeholder engagement strategy could be developed, he explained.

Ngcobo further pointed out that it was important to take government into account and effectively manage the dynamics between business and the regulatory environment, adding that successful relationships with government would add to the success of a company’s permit applications.

“Relationships with government may not secure approval but it does guarantee access, which is important to move towards gaining approval,” he stated, adding that, while government relations were complicated, the right people, in the right roles, with the right experience and relationships, could make a difference. 

Meanwhile, mining companies should continuously update their permit documents. A clear action plan should also be developed and continuously monitored and evaluated.

“A mining company’s ability to retain a mining licence relies heavily on permits and, therefore, companies have to look at permitting differently than before and ensure that issues relating to permitting are fully understood,” Ngcobo stressed.