Separating oil and gas from mining in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill framework would be unwise, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said in response to calls for this by Democratic Alliance Mineral Resources shadow Minister James Lorimer.

Lorimer’s view, expressed on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba, is that separating petroleum from mining would be a progressive move.

Shabangu’s media-conference response to Mining Weekly, however, was that such a separ- ation would be retrogressive in that it over-looked the reality that all minerals, in effect, are mined, irrespective of whether they are solid, liquid or gas.

“We have to have a seamless regulatory framework. It’s imperative that it remains one framework,” the Minister insisted, against the background of Parliament’s Mineral Resources Portfolio Committee chairperson, Faith Bikani, coming out in favour of oil and gas being treated separately.

This reportedly won the support of four out of the five Portfolio Committee attendees, with only the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) opposing the idea.

At her media conference, the Minister commented in response to Mining Weekly that separation would cause confusion as gas was also associated with coal.

“You also find gas in coal, a solid, and if you separate oil and coal, where does the buck stop?” Shabangu asked.

The DMR is convinced that it is on the right track and that any deviation, particularly at this late stage, would create certainty.

“Why should people get ideas at this late stage? We will create the various competences within one framework once it’s properly harmonised,” the Minister said in reply to Mining Weekly.

Lorimer criticised the divergence of MPRDA views within the ranks of government and charged that its stated intention to take up 20% of the shares in oil and gas operations as a free-carried interest was resulting in a loss of investor appetite.

Shabangu told delegates at the Investing in African Mining Indaba that the MPRDA Amendment Bill was expected to be passed during the current Parliamentary session and that it would bring predictability and stability back to the Mineral Resources sector as a whole.