In mining, the peaks are supposed to be high and the troughs low, but with the overall mining picture still being negatively tilted for the past eight years, the days of stronger-for-longer seem part of the distant past. Being a low-cost producer is now regarded as being absolutely essential to survival. One would imagine that governments in mining jurisdictions would be attuned to playing a positive policy part and ensuring that they do not aggravate an already bad situation. But, unfortunately, that is not the case in South Africa, where the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill, first published nearly four years ago, is still not finalised and also hovering over mining’s head are the Mining Charter Three proposals, the Davis tax proposals, carbon tax proposals and labour law amendments aimed at ending the propensity for long-term violent strikes.