Ongoing discussions on mining royalties within the National Treasury, the Department of Minerals and Energy and the Chamber of Mines would ensure that the mining industry was not hurt by their imposition, Minerals & Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday.

"We are very mindful that the mining industry is the goose that lays the golden eggs, so there is no way that we will do anything that will hurt it," Sonjica told Mining Weekly Online.

"We will act responsibly in the way we handle the royalty issue," she assured.

In amending the Minerals Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) to incorporate the requirements of the National Environmental Management Act, Sonjica said that discussions were under way with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to ensure that applications for mining licences were not needlessly delayed.

"There are sensitivities that whatever we do must not delay the processing of licences and consequent investment in the mining sector," she said.

Preventing delays was at the core of the challenge for the Department of Minerals and Energy, which was talking to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism so that investment could be facilitated.

"At the end of the day, it is important to uphold investor confidence. I think we are all aware that investor confidence needs to be maintained all the time," Sonjica said.

On minerals beneficiation, Sonjica said that the government was looking at a two-fold beneficiation strategy that would acknowledge that the exportation of raw materials resulted in job creation and the generation of taxation revenue.

"What we are looking at is a two-fold strategy that will allow exportation of raw material as well as a strategy that will open up investment in manufacturing," she told Mining Weekly Online.

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