SA is a safe venue for mining investments, and licencing corruption is being addressed, mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe said as he opened Africa’s largest mining conference on Monday. Explaining his reasoning, Mantashe, who has been SA’s mineral resources minister for a year, said there was a policy and legislative framework that would give investors certainty around what was expected from them and the regulatory environment in which they would operate. In a speech devoid of any specifics and that failed to address key concerns around land expropriation without compensation or a potential electricity tariff hike that would all but destroy deep-level mining, smelting and refining in SA, Mantashe said his department was addressing licencing problems at provincial level. President Cyril Ramaphosa will address delegates on Tuesday afternoon, extending the reassurances for mining companies and encouraging investment in SA. Ramaphosa is also delivering his second state of the na...

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