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Minerals Minister wants early lancing of developmental price boil

Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi

Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi

Photo by Duane Daws

10th February 2015

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Vigorous opposition to the manner in which the government intends pricing the soon-to-be-announced strategic minerals has resulted in Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi seeking legal counsel in a bid to bring the tendentious matter to early finality.

The Minister revealed in his opening speech at the Mining Indaba on Tuesday that mine-gate price setting was being vigorously contested and, as a consequence, he was seeking counsel on the possibilities of testing some of the provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill with the Constitutional Court to avoid negative repercussions later.

“We hope to close the debate around the developmental price. In this regard, I want to lance open the boil now, so that there’s no comeback on policy issues in the foreseeable future,” Ramatlhodi told the conference, against the background of a Reuters report that President Jacob Zuma would announce the list of nominated strategic minerals on Thursday.

The Minister revealed that the current legislative draft document, which stipulated that the developmental price of the minerals be set at the mine gate, was being vigorously contested.

“I want us to bring finality to this issue, one way or the other,” Ramatlhodi said, adding that in doing so, he would be guided by government policy, the  mining industry as well as legality and reminded that legality was the main reason why the President had referred the MPRDA Amendment Bill back to Parliament.

Accordingly, he was seeking legal counsel on the possibilities of testing some provisions of the Bill with the Constitutional Court upfront.

“The beauty of our country is its respect for the rule of law and anyone feeling short-changed or aggrieved is free to approach our courts, including the Constitutional Court.

“I think this provides the biggest policy security for any investor,” he said.

There was no better safeguard than South Africa’s policies being justiciable and investors would be hard pressed to find a similar legal regime anywhere in the world.

He said South Africa was ready for mining investment and recalled how, in the past 20 years, the country had built a stable constitutional democracy, underpinned by a justiciable bill of rights, which was reinforced by a strong monetary and fiscal regime that assisted in the navigation of difficult changes to the global economy.

The country had also built a first world infrastructure.

However, the blight was the high level of unemployment and inequalities from the past, which was why the country had adopted the National Development Plan, which was a roadmap to a future of plenty for all.

Given the centrality of mining to the economy, no stone was being left unturned in providing a stable  environment for investment., which was why government, industry and labour were engaged in an ongoing manner to solve problems.

The government had, in consultation with industry, decided to take advantage of the restructuring plans of the mining majors to turn adversity into advantage through the creation of a new South African community-based mining champion with strong worker participation, which was anchored by sound business principles, and headed by a leadership prepared to remain with it for the long haul.

“The underlying principle is simple – broad-based and more broad-based”, as the era of individual black economic empowerment (BEE) was over.

Government understood the importance of infrastructure development, had committed more than R1-trillion to infrastructure development and was paying particular attention to energy, without which there could be no mining industry.

While supporting Eskom to arrive at a sustainable long-term solution, government was also facilitating the development of renewable and nuclear energy.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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