Charter changes hard to fathom

MINING remains a mainstay employer in South Africa, although its fortunes are unquestionably declining.

Mines are aging and ore bodies are becoming harder to access.

Jobs continue to be shed, devastating local communities so dependent on its proceeds.

The glory days are long gone. Not even South Africa’s standing as the top producer of platinum group metals has been enough to halt the slide.

To survive into the future mines will be compelled to mechanise. That doesn’t mean the end for labour as such, but it does change the profile of the future employee.

Skilled workers will find themselves in demand and therefore able to command higher wages. The opposite will be true for those less suitably equipped for the automation renaissance.

Gold Fields is a prime example of a miner intent on mechanisation, having sunk billions of rand into automating its massive South Deep gold prospect over the years.

And, in fact, when it comes to mechanical ingenuity, raise bore drill maker Master Drilling Group, based in Fochville, has led the way globally with groundbreaking machines that threaten to render the human element mostly obsolete.

So Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s proposed amendments to the Mining Charter come at a particularly fraught time.

Purportedly a codifier for transformation, miners fear it will scare off investors.

Even the ANC is nonplussed by some of its provisions, the empowerment demands on companies to boost BEE stakes to 30% just one of them. There is genuine concern the charter will lead to deeper job cuts.

Zwane seems oblivious to the industry’s doldrums.

He has been accused by both mining companies and ANC of failing to consult.

This would be a deplorable dereliction and leads us to ponder if the same discourtesy was extended to the Guptas. More than likely not.