MPRDA to be endorsed in Feb., says Shabangu

[miningmx.com] – SOUTH African mines minister, Susan Shabangu, said the country’s much-vaunted amendments to its mining legislation would be endorsed in the days following President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address in February.

Responding to questions at the IHS McCloskey Coal Exports conference, Shabangu said the final draft of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) was being studied “clause-by-clause” by a joint sitting of the portfolio committees of mineral resources, water, and environmental affairs.

“As we speak today, they are having a joint meeting going through the parliamentary proposals clause by clause and the MPRDA’s linkages to NEMA (National Environment Management Act). This is the time for them to sit and endorse it,” she said.

“As parliament rises on 14 February, immediately after that, it will table it (MPRDA) in parliament where the National Assembly will endorse and conclude the MPRDA.

“The inputs from various sectors are done. We are done with this. I am positive that before the rise of parliament this year, this (amendment) act will be done. The mining industry can be assured that South Africa is a place to do business,” she said.

One of the goals of the amendments to the MPRDA is to align the mining and exploration permit application process with applications required by the water and environmental affairs departments.

Ian Hall, chairman of the steering committee of the SA Coal Roadmap, said at the conference that currently it takes about three-and-a-half years from the point of permit applications before construction of a mine can begin.

Shabangu said that amendments to the MPRDA would now enable mining companies to submit applications and begin construction within 300 days. “In a year, you can do business in South Africa,” Shabangu said.

“When you apply for a mining licence, you don’t apply for prospecting licence and then return for water licence. Now it’s simultaneous.

“The DMR (mineral resources department) will be the competent authority to grant you all the licences. If you have a challenge (on the environmental front), then the environmental ministry becomes the appeal authority,” said Shabangu. This would only be required for new applications, she added.

STRATEGIC MINERALS

Shabangu said there was no current plan to impose export quotas or levies on coal which she confirmed had been designated as a strategic mineral. However, she could not discount the possibility the government might change its attitude on the subject.

“I don’t think we intend to go the route of quotas,” said Shabangu. “We will contribute towards the coal export industry, but we won’t have energy shortage in South Africa (either),” said Shabangu.

Her comments are consistent with the apparent open-endedness of government’s view as expressed by Enoch Godongwana who at the Mining Lekgotla conference on October 29, said: “We can’t define in prices. That part of discussion is misplaced”.

Said Shabangu: “If there needs to be any export taxes, they will have to be informed by (economic) conditions. If we work together on coal exports in sincere and fair way, and agree on a formula that is acceptable, we might not need taxes as the system itself might be more efficient”.

“Taxes are not my competency. That will have to be defined by (the National) Treasury. It needs to look at the whole system,” Shabangu said.

In July, finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced plans for a comprehensive review of South Africa’s tax system nominating an eight-member committee under the chairmanship of Judge Dennis Davis.

The committee would take recent developments in the mining industry into account, such as the agreement between government, labour and business, steered by deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to ensure sustainability, growth and job creation and to safeguard investment in the industry.

Shabangu said she would be disappointed if the coal sector, in addition to the mining sector as a whole, failed to make a submission to the committee.