Speaking on an international stage, Chamber of Mines CEO Roger Baxter fired an extraordinary broadside at Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, saying there were “significant corruption allegations” against him and the industry had lost confidence in him. Zwane, who rose from political obscurity as Free State agriculture MEC to become the political head of the Department of Mineral Resources, operates under a pall of impropriety and stands accused by the chamber of sidelining it during negotiations to draw up the third version of the Mining Charter, deepening the sector’s unhappiness with the uncertain and increasingly adverse regulatory environment. Mining companies had essentially frozen all investments in the country, Baxter said at the Africa Down Under mining conference in Australia on Friday, a day after Zwane addressed the same gathering. Both Zwane and Baxter’s presentations did nothing to change a growing perception that SA was a far from ideal investment destination....

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