JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday said poor regulation and inefficiencies at the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) had led to the scrapping of a R3.2-billion investment in a local platinum mine.
“Chinese investors Beijing Hehe Fengye Investments were waiting only on approvals from the DMR to pour about R3.2-billion into reviving the mothballed Crocodile River platinum mine. This massive investment could potentially have created thousands of job opportunities – an opportunity now lost,” the party said in a statement.
Beijing Hehe, which claimed to be a significant shareholder in Hebei Zhongbo Platinum (HZP), earlier this week said it would not provide shareholder approval for the execution of the definitive agreements necessary to give effect to the restructured transaction between Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) and HZP for the acquisition of Eastplats’ platinum-group metals business in South Africa.
“Selling off unprofitable shafts, instead of closing them, was identified in the recent agreement between government, business and labour as an opportunity to save jobs in the face of impending mass retrenchments across the mining industry.
“Indeed, the private sector, and even foreign investors, are coming to the party in this respect. Government, however, continues to be an obstacle to, rather than a facilitator of investment and job creating initiatives in the sector,” the DA stated.