Loading ...* Chamber of Mines says believes decision “unlawful”
* Tussle over mining code raises uncertainty in sector
* Mining makes up 7 percent of S.Africa’s GDP (Adds chamber response)
South Africa intends to suspend the granting of applications for prospecting and mining rights as well as any renewals pending a court case to review new mining laws, the Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on Thursday.
Such a move could seriously hamper growth and investment in South Africa’s mining sector, already beset by policy uncertainty, depressed prices, soaring costs and often violent social and labour strife.
“The moratorium would ensure that any applications … are concluded in terms of the 2017 Mining Charter,” Zwane said in a statement.
The Charter is part of a wider empowerment drive in South Africa designed to rectify the disparities of apartheid that persist more than two decades since the end of white minority rule in 1994.
The Chamber of Mines said it believed the move to suspend new mining and exploration rights was “unlawful”, damaging to the sector and was beyond the minister’s powers under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
cont. http://www.mining.com/web/south-africa-intends-suspend-issuing-mining-rights/