JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite the gains of the newly amended Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), Mandela Institute director Professor Tumai Murombo has argued that the development of mining legislation has progressively eroded the rights of mining communities and small-scale miners in favour of mining majors.

While the tenets underlining the inclusionary aspects of the legislation – such as sustainable use and equitable access – were “good”, these aspects were not being adequately implemented, he said during an address at a Mandela Institute sustainable mining seminar on Thursday.

“This legislation only acknowledges the economic contribution of the big boys and not that of small-scale or artisanal miners. While these miners have been mainstreamed in other African economies, this is not happening here.

“Their contribution in the communities in which they live is undermined, as the law panders to the big guys.”

The formalisation of smaller mining activities had shown successes in countries such as Mali, with gold output from this African State having reached 67.4 t in 2013 owing to the growth in artisanal mining.

Murombo believed South African mining communities were getting a “raw deal” under the MPRDA, as the system had not been designed or costed to allow small-scale miners to enter the sector.

“The mining licences are expensive and it is costly to construct and start a mine, but these miners don’t have access to capital. This is not considered within the Act, which is regulating these miners out of business,” he asserted.

Instead, the new legislation was aimed at expediting the process of extracting resources rather than focusing on who should benefit during this process of extraction.

“Who are we rushing the extraction for? Who should benefit from this? Is it not the community members? Bearing this in mind, it is then the role of the State to accurately mediate the interests of the community with that of the mining companies,” he said.

The explicit role of the State under the MPRDA, Murombo noted, was that of a trustee of South Africa’s natural resources.

“[In this context], the State is neglecting its duties because this trusteeship is a form of nationalism, and yet, the communities are still not benefiting from the country’s mineral wealth,” he said.

However, the State was also acting as a beneficiary of the mining sector, through taxes and royalties, an entrepreneur within the sector, through the State-owned mining company and as regulator, through the various legislation.

“The State cannot, however, occupy all four roles in the sector – it has to have a regulatory function to create the space for investment and ensure that the resources benefit the community.

“In addition, its role cannot be simply confined to that of a regulator; it must also actively participate in the industry to ensure that the national interest is protected,” he argued.

Mining Weekly Online reported in 2012 that artisanal and small-scale mining activities in Africa engaged about eight-million workers, who, in turn, supported around 45-million dependants.

Moreover, the number of such miners was growing as a result of rising commodity prices and limited economic opportunities in other sectors.