MINING
BOBBY GODSELL: Without support of investors, the new charter appears doomed to fail
A new version of SA’s Mining Charter came into operation last Thursday. Before considering its details and likely effects, we should ask what South Africans should expect of its mining industry. A useful set of expectations was set out in the vision contained in the first Mining Charter, which became law in 2004: "… a globally competitive mining industry that draws on the human and financial resources of all SA’s people and offers real benefits to all South Africans." This statement combines two imperatives. The first is a transformation in who participates and benefits from the mining industry. The ownership of mineral rights in SA was, prior to 1996, largely shaped by the Roman Dutch law precept that linked the ownership of minerals to ownership of land. As the 1913 and 1936 land acts, together with the subsequent effects of the Group Areas Act, largely confined land ownership to white South Africans, this had the effect of concentrating minerals ownership in white hands. Clearly ...
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