SOUTH Africa’s long-awaited new mining cadastre system will be launched at the end of June as per its schedule, but only initially in the Western Cape province.
That’s according to Tseliso Maqubela – deputy director general for Mineral and Petroleum Regulation in the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources – speaking at the Junior Mining Indaba being held in Johannesburg.
The new system – which will replace the derelict SAMRAD (South African Minerals Resources Administration System) – has been subject to a series of delays and should have been up and running at least six years ago.
A contract was finally awarded in January last year to the PGM consortium – consisting of Canadian companies GeoTech Systems, MITS Institute and Gemini GIS and Environmental Services – to design and implement the new mining cadastre.
Maqubela told delegates that the Western Cape was chosen for the initial launch because it was a “manageable” mining jurisdiction; that there was no appreciable backlog in applications, and there was a limited number of appeals outstanding.
He added the Western Cape would be followed by the Eastern Cape and the Free State “and then the other regions will follow after that.”
“Come the first of July you will not be able to use SAMRAD in the Western Cape. You will have to use the new system.” he commented.
Pressed by conference chairman Bernard Swanepoel on the timing Maqubela said the system was “on track as far as the internal processes are concerned”.
But he commented that the “linkages” with external organisations such as the Deeds Office and the Revenue Service were still being finalised.
