Mineral Resources shadow Minister James Lorimer last week decried the sharply reduced output of South Africa’s once-colossal mining industry and warned that mining’s “jobs bloodbath” had only just begun.
State statistics compiler Statistic South Africa reported earlier this month that South Africa’s year-on-year mining production had plummeted by a far-greater-than-expected 18%.
“This is on the back of 10 000 job losses quarter-on-quarter reported earlier this month,” Lorimer pointed out in a media release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly.
The Democratic Alliance MP also drew attention to the mining industry having to face ballooning prices and prolonged regulatory uncertainty.
He accused the government of neglecting to show leadership on the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which had been in legislative doldrums since 2014.
He railed against the new Mining Charter having blindsided the industry.
“Changing the goal posts once again, and now the Energy Minister has announced yet another change with a separate oil and gas bill,” Lorimer carped, adding that South Africa’s 8.9-million unemployed people were looking to government for urgent solutions.
He urged government to ditch the “disastrous legislative proposals currently fumbling their way through Parliament” and to focus instead on making the mining business easier rather than harder.