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South Africa’s Mantashe promises policy certainty by Nov

29th August 2018

By: Esmarie Iannucci

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

     

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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has made a case for future mining investment in South Africa, telling delegates at this year’s Africa Downunder conference in Perth, Australia, that the country was working towards policy certainty by November this year.

Mantashe said on Wednesday that the government had been working to rebuild trust with the resources industry, as well as with the labour forces and communities affected by the resources sector.

“One of the major challenges faced by the industry over the past five years was the breakdown in stakeholder relations between the tripartite partners. However, this relationship has been restored to a level where we, as stakeholders, have had an open engagement on several matters affecting the sustainability and competitiveness of the sector.

“These engagements have culminated into a robust process aimed at resolving the impasse on the Mining Charter 2017, to produce a charter which is supported by all stakeholders.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference in Perth, Mantashe told Mining Weekly Online that following the written submission deadline at the end of August, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) would draft the Charter to present to Cabinet, and if approved, to Parliament, with the aim of having the Charter gazette before the end of November.

“Our target is to have this happen before the investment conference, before then there must be policy certainty in our country.”

Mantashe said that while the Charter would “not make everyone happy” it would be something that would be palatable to all parties, and would give the necessary result to the industry.

To further provide regulatory certainty, Mantashe had withdrawn the much-contested Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill from Parliament, and has engaged with the gas and petroleum sector on a process to develop a separate legal framework specifically for the oil and gas sector, instead of having the sector as an appendage to the mining sector framework.

“This move will also provide certainty for the gas and petroleum sector,” the Minister said.

EXPLORATION AND LOWERING COSTS
Meanwhile, the DMR has been given a R20-billion budget over the next ten years to encourage exploration spend in South Africa, with the government considering specific tax incentives on exploration projects.

“We are also proposing a dedicated focus on junior miners and exploration companies’ assistance with access to finance,” Mantashe said.

The Minister told Mining Weekly Online that the Council for Geosciences should also be equipped to more pro-actively assist explorers in finding resources, with the capacity and capability of pointing explorers towards known deposits.

The exploration drive will be geared towards the discovery and quantification of a new minerals pipeline not only in South Africa’s historical commodities such as gold and platinum-group metals, but new minerals like fluorspar will also be targeted.

In addition, the DMR will also be looking at initiatives to lower the cost of doing business, including commodity linked electricity pricing, rail and port costs, as well as ramping-up investments by the state into rail and port capacity.

“The cost of electricity is inhibiting our growth, and opening up our chrome and manganese sector to exporting raw materials to areas where they have cheaper electricity,” Mantashe said.

“If we deal with the electricity price, we will be able to arrest the export of this metal.”

Mantashe noted that government would look at commodity price-linked power pricing as ways to assist with the electricity pricing for the resources industry.

In terms of railways, Mantashe said that the government was also reviewing either a dedicated manganese ore rail line from the Northern Cape to the Port of Saldanha, or efficiently using existing rail lines to make room for manganese ore.

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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