https://www.miningweekly.com

Cadastral system core to ensure re-emergence of exploration in SA

10th May 2022

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

A mining cadastral system is the most critical part of the puzzle to ensure the re-emergence of exploration in South Africa, says Minerals Council South Africa public affairs and transformation senior executive Tebello Chabana.

The country currently attracts less than 1% of global exploration spend.

A working cadastral system will act as a management tool that will provide transparency within the industry, while it will also allow access to South Africa’s resources, notes Chabana.

“It must be a simple, tried and tested system. We don’t need a bespoke system. People have been there, done that. They know what works. It is a matter of taking something that works, adopting it to our circumstances and using it. That is really the core.”

Unfortunately, notes Chabana, there is currently no time frame for when South Africa’s cadastral system will be up and running.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe told delegates at the 2022 PGMs Industry Day on April 6, that the roll-out of an online central cadastral system – which the mining and exploration industry has been begging for for over a decade – was one of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy's “biggest nightmares”.

He blamed the ongoing lack of implementation of a mineral rights cadastre on the sluggishness of the legal system.

South Africa’s mineral rights are currently managed through the South African Mineral Resources Administration System (Samrad), which has been called dysfunctional and has been blamed for discouraging investment in South Africa’s mining industry and encouraging corruption owing to its opacity.

A cadastral system would reduce human inputs by incorporating automated processes, thereby significantly enhancing the reliability and transparency of the mineral regulatory system in South Africa.

By creating a system that applies to the entire mining life cycle, mining cadastres provide a tool by which governments may regulate the industry effectively, as well as monitor and regulate it through checks, balances and automated record keeping.

Several other African countries, including Botswana and Mozambique, have already implemented cadastral systems for managing mineral rights.

A cadastral system would log all properties in the country, specifying who is permitted where, for which commodity, where a right’s borders are and the expiry date of those rights. A minerals cadastre would list available mining or prospecting rights, properties currently under a mining or prospecting right and the expiry of currently held rights and ownership thereof.

However, what pundits have said would make minerals cadastres particularly useful for the mining industry, particularly the junior mining and prospecting sector, is that they would also contain all historical prospecting data generated by previous exploration parties.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION