![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James-Lorimer.jpg\")
<\/a>Lorimer highlighted numerous problems with the new Mineral Resources Bill, that harm an industry, which is already struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- The end of once empowered, always empowered<\/strong> – The bill allows for the rapid overturning of the \u201conce empowered, always empowered\u201d opening the door to the need for constant injections of new BEE investors, which will deter investment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Restriction on certain mining licenses<\/strong> \u2013 The bill proposes a restriction on certain licences to black people only, which appears unconstitutional.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Ministerial approval for ownership change<\/strong> – Ministerial approval would now be required for the change of control of any listed company holding a mining licence, even if it occurs indirectly on a non-South African stock exchange.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Local beneficiation<\/strong> \u2013 There is a vague requirement that certain minerals would have to be \u201cmade available\u201d for local beneficiation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Social and labour requirements<\/strong> – Uneconomic mines would still have to continue paying for their social and labour plans, even while on care and maintenance and generating no income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Mine Closure Certificates restrictions<\/strong> – Mine Closure Certificates will no longer terminate the miners\u2019 environmental liabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Mine dumps will be treated as mines<\/strong> \u2013 The Bill redefines mine dumps that, prior to 2004, were designated as movable assets that did not require a prospecting or mining right. They would now be treated as mines requiring mining licences with all the consequent requirements for participation in the race.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Racial empowerment requirements<\/strong> – Racial empowerment requirements would apply to the prospecting phase, which members of the mining industry say will end almost all mining exploration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Lorimer told Biznews that South Africa\u2019s mining reputation is already in freefall, and that this Bill will further hurt the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Fraser Institute\u2019s annual rankings place South Africa among the least attractive mining destinations globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lorimer attributes this to both flawed policy and catastrophic administration. \u201cOur desirability has been going steadily downward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the Bill looks like an attempt for politically connected individuals to lock in economic power through legislation that creates future dependencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTens of millions are handed to hand-picked individuals, with little oversight and no clarity on criteria. If any of them do turn a profit, you know who they’ll be beholden to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minerals Council South Africa criticizes the Bill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mzila-Mthenjane-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The Minerals Council South Africa said the Mineral Resources Development Bill does not reflect its inputs or those from its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minerals Council South Africa is a mining industry advocacy organisation that supports and promotes the interests, development and growth of the South African mining industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane said they shared their inputs during brief, high-level engagements with the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe draft bill is not altogether optimal. We did have engagements with the department, but we cannot see where our inputs were taken into consideration,\u201d said Mthenjane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we were exposed to in our two engagements was very high level, and we were not given any access to the underlying wording of what we were shown and how it was being amended.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mthenjane points to oft-repeated public comments by Mantashe that prospecting companies were excluded from the same empowerment requirements for holders of mining rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe raised this point over and over with the department that the amendments must exclude prospecting companies from empowerment requirements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exploration is the highest risk part of the mineral value chain and imposes an unnecessary burden on prospectors who must sink every rand into drilling and data interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the capital-intensive nature and high risk associated with mining exploration, the Bill forces empowerment on exploration companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minerals Council stated that it continues to review the Bill and will further engage with the department to co-create a regulatory environment that will attract and support investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Numerous experts warn that the latest draft amendment to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) will cause tremendous damage to the mining industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":811801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2261,22705,22703,22704,17126,22706],"class_list":["post-826315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-gwede-mantashe","tag-james-lorimer","tag-mineral-and-petroleum-resources-development-act-mprda","tag-mineral-resources-bill","tag-minerals-council-south-africa","tag-mzila-mthenjane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826315"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826435,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826315\/revisions\/826435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Racial empowerment requirements<\/strong> – Racial empowerment requirements would apply to the prospecting phase, which members of the mining industry say will end almost all mining exploration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Mine dumps will be treated as mines<\/strong> \u2013 The Bill redefines mine dumps that, prior to 2004, were designated as movable assets that did not require a prospecting or mining right. They would now be treated as mines requiring mining licences with all the consequent requirements for participation in the race.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Mine Closure Certificates restrictions<\/strong> – Mine Closure Certificates will no longer terminate the miners\u2019 environmental liabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Social and labour requirements<\/strong> – Uneconomic mines would still have to continue paying for their social and labour plans, even while on care and maintenance and generating no income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Local beneficiation<\/strong> \u2013 There is a vague requirement that certain minerals would have to be \u201cmade available\u201d for local beneficiation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Ministerial approval for ownership change<\/strong> – Ministerial approval would now be required for the change of control of any listed company holding a mining licence, even if it occurs indirectly on a non-South African stock exchange.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Restriction on certain mining licenses<\/strong> \u2013 The bill proposes a restriction on certain licences to black people only, which appears unconstitutional.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n