[miningmx.com] – AMENDMENTS to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), approved by cabinet on December 7, created more uncertainty and would discourage investment, said BDLive citing lawyers from firms Bell Dewar and Webber Wentzel.
The draft Mineral Resources and Petroleum Amendment bill gave a high degree of ministerial discretion on setting beneficiation levels, sought to give the state control of tailings, and provide the state with a “free carry” option on petroleum exploration.
“The substance of the bill unfortunately belies the objects stated by the minister (mines, Susan Shabangu),” Webber Wentzel’s head of Africa mining and energy projects, Peter Leon, told BDLive.
“This will exacerbate rather than improve the difficulties that exist with the current mineral regulatory regime and may further damage investor confidence in the mining industry,” he added.
One area of particular concern is that the amendment bill removes an exemption which would then require ministerial consent before an interest in a listed company is sold. “It would have been better if the act had been left unchanged,” said Matthew van der Want. “Most of the amendments are unnecessary and they don’t really add anything,” he added.
Broad discretionary powers were given to the mines minister in respect of beneficiation allowing government to set levels required for beneficiation as well as the percentage of beneficiation required per commodity, the price required for beneficiation and the percentage of raw mineral production to be offered to local beneficiators, Leon said.
“The bill also requires any person who intends to export designated minerals — a term that it fails to define — to obtain the minister’s written consent prior to doing so,” Leon told BDLive.
