Fiery Shabangu revisits skirmish with Anglo

[miningmx.com] – SUSAN Shabangu, South Africa’s mines minister, signalled today her time in office may be drawing to a close, but she still found time to engage in her favourite bloodsport which is to round on executives hailing from Anglo American.

Speaking at the IHS McCloskey South African Coal Exports conference, Shabangu asked not to be held to comments she made about the prospects for coal export levies – that they would not be imposed – as she was “counting the days’.

She also alluded to changeability in government policies, and later added that applications for shale gas exploration permits would be processed “in my term’ – a reference to the approaching national elections, due by May, which will be followed by a cabinet reshuffle.

If Shabangu is serving her last months as South Africa’s mines minister, it’s probably worth reflecting on her tenure.

One highlight of her office must be the proposed amendments to the Minerals & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), a four-year process due to conclude this year when the National Assembly approves the final draft.

The other feature of her administration as head of the mineral resources department (DMR) will be the combustible nature of relations with the private sector for which Anglo American has most frequently been the standard-bearer.

It was Shabangu who last year accused Chris Griffith, CEO of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), of “arrogance’ after he “failed’ to inform the DMR of plans to restructure the company’s Rustenburg mines.

At the IHS McCloskey conference today, she similarly laid into another Anglo executive, Ian Hall, who is GM of the group’s projects for Anglo Thermal Coal. Hall is also chairman of the steering committee of the SA Coal Roadmap, a cross-interest organisation that does scenario-planning for the country’s coal sector.

It was in this capacity as chairman that Hall disclosed findings of a study (actually published last year) which found that mining permits took too long to secure – about 3.5 years on average – owing to the complexity of making parallel applications for environmental and water permits.

As they shared a stage at the conference, Shabangu said: “I am disappointed that you did not wait for finalisation of the act (MPRDA amendments) regarding alignment of the regulations.

“I am worried about what you paint here that we are far from this. You continue to paint a gloomy picture when we have made so much progress in this space.’

The pity of the moment is that the SA Coal Roadmap Hall leads has bridging the interests of government, unions and the private sector as its mandate. “I am not representing Anglo American,’ he said.

A major leg of the MPRDA amendments is to reduce the waiting time for mining permits to about 300 days. It’s likely this will be a major benefit.

Less welcome, will be the increase in discretion allowed to the mines minister on issues relating to strategic minerals, of which coal is one.

Shabangu said discussion with the industry and unions in respect of the amendments was now over. She added that all issues had been straightened out and agreed. It’ll be interesting to see the extent to which the industry is satisfied the MPRDA amendments take its affairs forward.

Shabangu said export quotas or taxes or levies were not part of the MPRDA, but she couldn’t vouch for future policies. This seems to imply that her successors will have the power to impose levies as they see fit. Increased ministerial discretion – criticised by the private sector as the weakest part of the MPRDA in its current form – may be the thing for which Shabangu is most remembered for.