The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has expressed concern at the current freeze on mining approvals pending the finalisation of the legal challenge against the new Mining Charter. On June 15, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane gazetted a controversial third version of the Mining Charter, knocking some R51bn off listed mining companies’ market capitalisation. A month later, on July 19, he gazetted a notice that he proposed restricting the granting of new mining and prospecting rights and the transfer of mineral rights between companies, the lifeblood of the mining sector. The Chamber of Mines now has three pending legal processes against Zwane and his department. It is seeking to overturn the proposed moratorium and the third Mining Charter. The chamber is also hoping for a declaratory order about whether past empowerment deals count towards empowerment credits or whether companies must perpetually top up empowerment holdings, as the department wants them to do. In a stat...
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