CoM disappointed with MPRDA return

[miningmx.com] – THE Chamber of Mines of South Africa (CoM) expressed its disappointment that proposed amendments to the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) had been returned to the National Assembly for further discussion.

BDLive cited the CoM’s chief operating officer, Roger Baxter, as saying more discussion regarding the amendments would only add to regulatory uncertainty in the mining sector.

“We’ve consulted extensively within the industry and we engaged extensively with the government to produce legislation that would work for South Africa,” Baxter is quoted to have said.

“So clearly we are disappointed because one thing that is critically important in this current environment is to create policy certainty for the mining sector,” he said.

It was announced on January 16 that South African president, Jacob Mr Zuma, had referred a bill amending the MPRDA, which also governs the mining, oil and gas sectors back to the National Assembly saying it did “not pass constitutional muster”.

This was on the request of mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi who raised the possibility the legislation would not be signed into law last year.

The development was welcomed by the oil and gas sector which said continued discussion of the proposed amendments would be “a step in the right direction”.