The minds of potential investors must surely boggle at South Africa’s mesmerising mining law tangle made up of amendments, proposed amendments and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill, plus the Mining Charter, four different black economic empowerment documents and a possible hiving off of oil and gas legislation. Legislators have left the flywheel of the South African economy without a drive shaft, which puts the country at risk of missing the next resources boom, just as it lost out on the previous one at the start of the new millennium. Add the lack of power from State utility Eskom and new State-owned mining company legislation in the wings and it becomes clear why companies are holding onto their excess cash. There have been more than 1 000 appeals against Department of Mineral Resources interpretations of the regulations and lawyers report winning all the lawsuits that they bring against the Minerals Ministry.