SIPHO Pityana, a prominent critic of former South African president, Jacob Zuma, said the updated draft on the country’s Mining Charter ought not to proceed in its current form for fear of killing off the mining sector it seeks to promote.
“When the industry says to you that what you are proposing will kill the industry, you should sit up and listen,” said Pityana, who is chairman of AngloGold Ashanti, a gold mining company. He was speaking in an interview with Bloomberg News.
“Layers and layers of these things make mining an uninvestable proposition and you are talking about an industry that basically has it back up against the wall,” he said.
The Minerals Council, a lobby group representing South Africa’s mining sector, wants to see proposals for a trickle-down dividend and 10% free-carry for mining companies applying for new mining permits scrapped in favour of a profit-share.
