  | |
| |
 | Thu, 07 Dec 2006 |
Posted: Fri, 08 Sep 2006 [miningmx.com] -- THE Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) has now established a “a congruence of views” with mining companies which is helping to speed up the permitting process, said the department’s director-general Sandile Nogxina. Addressing the Africa Down Under conference in Perth, Nogxina said the DME had committed itself to processing and finalising prospecting permit applications with six months and mining rights applications within a year. Said Nogxina: “In order to give teeth to this plan these time frames are incorporated into the performance agreements of the relevant managers. Performance evaluations of both individuals and directorates will be used as an instrument to enforce the adherence to the plan.” Priority would be given to clearing the backlog of applications which had built up, but which he said amounted to only 7% of the total applications for mining and prospecting rights accepted by the DME. Amongst that backlog are the country’s major platinum producers all of which have had applications to convert their old order mining rights in for more than a year although no new order mining permits have so far been granted to them. The DME has held a series of three day workshops this year with the various platinum companies focusing on the requirements for mining right conversions. Nogxina said the delays were due to the “steep learning curve” which both his department and the mining companies had to face in implementation of the new legislation. He rejected allegations being made by various mining industry sources that the poor performance by the DME on processing prospecting permits had resulted in negative investor sentiment which had reduced interest in South Africa’s mining sector. “The number of prospecting applications coming in is unprecedented and we believe investor interest by mining companies in South Africa is rising and not declining as some reports have claimed,” he said. Nogxina said the DME had the capacity to administer and implement the new laws. That’s not the view of some Australian mining entrepreneurs who say South Africa is being by-passed in favour of other African countries where it is easier to operate with far less bureaucracy, particularly in respect of winning the right to prospect. Some have set up offices in South Africa to make use of the country’s excellent infrastructure as a base, but they are not interested in investing in South African mining ventures.Free news alerts: click here to subscribe
| |||||||
