Mining charter update

I like Peter Leon. I like the way he thinks and other than Hulme Scholes he is pretty much Mr Legal Mining Man. He's been in the press a n incredible amount over the last few months, his PR department works harder than Hulme's. Peter is always the first guy the press asks when it comes to the Mining Charter so you can bet his opinion was requested after today's press conference with Susan Shabangu. I find it quite humourous that various publications picked up on different issues that Shabangu discussed in her speech this morning.

The most important issue was Shabangu's statement that mines would not be nationalised in her lifetime. All the publications mentioned this. Fin24 made it their headline - State mines: 'Not on my watch'

"Nationalisation of mines is not government policy. In my lifetime there will be no nationalisation of mines,"

This fair dinkum pissed the Malemaniacs off

Business Day's headline read "Time to process mining licenses to be slashed"

Mining Minister Susan Shabangu has addressed the second day of a four day mining Indaba in Cape Town and suggested that the time it takes to grant a mining license could be slashed to three months.

Presently it takes up to six months to be granted a mining license, which has implications for costs on hardware and logistics.

Business Report spoke about the change in the Mining Charter's targets "SA not adjusting charter targets: Shabangu"

The South African government will not adjust mining empowerment targets downwards. "Transformation is a critical area," said Shabangu. (She) said the review has been completed and has been referred to stakeholders for their input before it would be made public.Not willing to disclose the results of the review, Shabangu would only say that she was concerned about black economic transactions in the mining sector, procurement levels and the misuse of certain clauses of mining legislation to undermine the charter.

And on the subject of the charter, Mining Weekly wrote "SA's Mining Charter review to be completed by March"

The review of South Africa's Mining Charter would be released to the public by March, at the latest

And what about Peter Leon. A website I had not read before, Ferronews.com quoted Peter at length Minerals Minister's speech a "breath of fresh air"

Peter Leon, head of natural resources and regulatory at Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg, and also chairman of the mining law committee of the International Bar Association (IBA), said that Shabangu's statement that nationalisation would not happen in her lifetime in her post speech press conference, was likely to be welcomed by foreign and domestic investors.

"Her speech seems to mark a significant departure from her and the government's previous hard-line approach towards the South African mining industry.

"Today the Minister's stance was far more inclusive and facilitatative.

"Most encouragingly, she said that the controversial MPRDA (Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act) amendment act, signed by the president last April, would not be implemented until all stakeholder concerns had been addressed.

"She also indicated that the contentious codes of good practice would be reviewed."

There was a very interesting debate between Peter Leon and someone else about the Mining Charter in last week's Finweek (I can't find the link because Telkom's internet has come to a dead standstill). Peter recommended that the targets remain as they are – this would ensure there was certainty in the sector.

I like Peter – I like what he says.

Comments

[Marc Ashton]

Hi Paul

Thanks very much for the link back to Ferronews.com

We're a South African start-up 50% owned by my company - Rival Industrial, which publishes a couple of titles including ManufacturingHub.co.za for the food, pharma and chemical industries.

If you have any thoughts on the metals and manufacturing industries and would like to contribute to either site with some articles / commentary we would certainly be keen to chat.

Kind regards,
Marc Ashton