Charter on hold for now

The Chamber of Mines says Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, pictured, has given a written undertaking that his department will not implement or apply the provisions of the Mining Charter in any way, pending judgment in an urgent interdict application brought by the industry.

The industry vehemently rejected the 2017 Reviewed Mining Charter, with the chamber saying the department of mineral resources (DMR) had not had meaningful consultations before the introduction of some of the items. It therefore decided to approach the courts to stop the department from implementing it.

The chamber went to court seeking an urgent interdict to prevent the implementation of the charter, which was published on June 15.

The Reviewed Charter’s targets include new mining rights holders having 30% black ownership to be shared among employees, communities and black entrepreneurs. Mining rights holders who have complied with the previous target of 26% have to “top up” to 30% within 12 months.

The chamber said Zwane had also undertaken that, in the event of any breach of his undertaking, the chamber could set the urgent interdict application down for hearing on 48 hours’ notice to him.

Based on the written undertaking, the Chamber of Mines has acceded to the DMR’s request for extra time to prepare its answering affidavit to the interdict application and for the hearing to take place on a later date. The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

The parties have also asked the deputy judge president of the high court to allocate a hearing date in September. – ANA