Mantashe opens door to illegal miners
• An experiment, says minister as department is scheduled to issue two mining permits to ‘zama-zamas’ who have access to tailings in Kimberley
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe says legalising “zama-zamas” will protect the productivity of the mining industry.
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has come out in support of informal miners, saying legalising “zama-zamas” would protect the productivity of the mining industry.
Zama-zamas are subsistence, or artisanal, miners who mine independently of the large mining houses, using their own resources.
The law does not recognise zama-zamas, who are regarded as illegal miners who often target disused shafts, which at times has led to deadly underground accidents and turf wars, as well as clashes with law enforcement authorities.
Delivering his department’s budget speech in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday, Mantashe said that along with gazetting the Mining Charter, enacting the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill tabled before the council would contribute to policy and regulatory certainty. “Such certainty will lead to increased confidence in our mining sector, resulting in growth, transformation and competitiveness ... therefore, making SA an investment destination of choice for mining and upstream petroleum,” he said.
The issuing of mining rights as well as the proper processing of applications for mining licences were already among the department’s key priorities, said Mantashe. A preliminary internal investigation showed the backlog on new mineral rights applications stretched as far back as 2012, while applications for the renewal of prospecting rights have been made since 2010.
On Thursday the department was due to issue two mining permits in Kimberley to artisanal miners in an attempt to curb widespread illegal mining across the country. Artisanal miners have managed to negoti- ate access to the tailings mining resource (dump) from Ekapa Mining, giving them 500ha of ground on which to mine.
Mantashe sought to emphasise that legalising zama-zamas would help protect the sector and the miners.
“Illegal mining is a criminal activity, that’s why we are experimenting with licensing of the ‘zama-zamas’, so that what they mine should go back into the formal economy and contribute to the economy.”
Illegal mining in the gold sector alone is estimated to cost companies R70bn a year. The department planned to hold discussions with Police Minister Bheki Cele on strengthening approaches to illegal mining.
Mantashe again pledged to convene a summit once consultations on the contentious Mining Charter have been completed. He said the government aimed to finalise and gazette the revised charter within the coming weeks, after considering the inputs and concerns from stakeholders across the country.
The government has been engaged in tough talks with mining industry stakeholders and mining communities on the revised charter after a version tabled in 2017 prompted legal challenges from the industry.