SA’s new mining cadastre due mid-year, but will it work?

SA mines minister, Gwede Mantashe. Photo: Getty Images

THE South African government’s new mining cadastral system is due to be launched mid-year but officials at the Minerals Council were unsure if it would be road-worthy.

“The minister (Gwede Mantashe) confirmed yesterday (Sunday) that they were on track to deliver,” said Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council of South Africa. “Whether that means it is being installed and it will function or it will then be tested, I am uncertain,” he said, adding that the presumption is it would be working once installed.

PGM Consortium consisting of Canadian companies GeoTech Systems, MITS Institute and Gemini GIS & Environmental Services were selected in January 2024 to design and implement a new mining cadastre replacing the derelict SAMRAD (South African Mineral Resources Administration System).

The administrative task is enormous, however. Migrating data from SAMRAD to the new cadastre also requires resolving between a 2,500 to 3,000 licence application backlog, although Mthenjane said much of the backlog consisted of duplicate applications, known as ‘over-pegging’ which would be rejected.

Said Hugo Pienaar, chief economist at the council: “They are testing it (cadastre) in the Northern Cape initially. It is being tested as we speak. So the question is now if it runs there do they palm it out to the broader country? I don’t think we should commit to the middle of this year, but when it goes live it would have been tested,” he said.

The need for a professional cadastral system to replace SAMRAD, which is vulnerable to manipulation and is not transparent, could not be more urgent.

Mthenjane said South Africa had a massive window of opportunity to promote itself to exploration companies and lenders, especially given political crisis in the so-called ‘coup belt’ in West Africa and the Sahel.

He also said South Africa’s exploration industry should “not carry the burden of legislation” by demands for empowerment. This is in terms of proposed amendments to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act which is being contemplated by Government.

Mantashe said previously there was no demand for empowerment for companies conducting exploration in South Africa, although regional offices still ask for it prior to consenting to a prospecting licence application.

“The impact of the cadastre is huge in terms of exploration,” said Mthenjane. “It does instill confidence if you can prospect for a new mine and give hope that new orebody could be found and development of mine where see investment in mining.

“I’ve described the Northern Cape has last frontier for mining in South Africa if you look at the activity there. But we do need to look at ourselves as relative to other countries and take advantage of what’s happening unfortunately there.

“We need clear rules on prospecting and separate exploration from mining. Exploration must be less demanding in terms of environment and less demands on exploration and not carry burden of legislation in terms of demand for empowerment,” he said.

“Rather defer those requiresments once you have proven an orebody and see the value. Then you can think of localisation. But at the exploration stage you need to give prospects all the support they need to prove a viable and lucrative mining development.”