IN-DEPTH: Poor timing, bad drafting and cynical manoeuvres
Rather than encouraging and stimulating the mining sector, the release of the Mining Charter has deepened divisions, writes Allan Seccombe
The mining industry is asking a perfectly valid question about the release of the controversial new Mining Charter when the regulations behind it are in a state of flux and appear to be a long way from being finalised. Why has the Department of Mineral Resources seen fit to issue such a damaging, badly drafted and ill-conceived document, which immediately erased R51bn of value from mining stocks when it was released last Thursday? The biggest declines were in dual-listed companies and Anglo American’s platinum and iron ore subsidiaries. Foreign investors were clearly striking a line through South African mining, which is already seen as at risk from politics and meddling by unfriendly government officials.The release of the charter had the ANC aghast and calling for meetings with the Chamber of Mines and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, a minor politician plucked from relative obscurity in the Free State where he controversially facilitated a farming and funding deal for ...
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