SA MINING SECTOR BURNISHES TRANSFORMATION CREDENTIALS AS BATTLE LOOMS OVER DRAFT BILL
- BEE NEWS
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
Ed Stoddard | 18 August 2025
The mining industry is arming itself with facts before what may be a long slog as it pushes for changes in the draft Mineral Resources Development Bill.
South Africa’s mining sector is digging in for lengthy talks with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy over the contentious draft Mineral Resources Development Bill (MRDP).
The Minerals Council SA, the main umbrella group for the industry, maintains that the bill has many shortcomings that will discourage investment and job creation. The council lodged an extensive submission on the draft bill before the 13 August 2025 deadline.
“It is of fundamental importance for the Minerals Council that the bill creates certainty, predictability and a competitive regulatory environment, while eliminating ambiguity in what will become the act to ensure we build on the successes we have had to date,” the council said in a statement on Monday, 18 August 2025.
At a media briefing, Mzila Mthenjane, the CEO of the Minerals Council, said the industry would be engaging with the department on the bill in what was expected to be a marathon rather than a sprint.
“We will not negotiate the bill in public… It will take time. It will be a lengthy process,” he said. “We will take it one step at a time, but from the progress we have seen so far in submitting our detailed submission I think there’s a possibility that we can avoid seeing ourselves in court.”
Not negotiating in public means that the council is keeping its specific concerns under wraps for now, though when the bill was first flagged in May it did raise alarms over the failure to exclude BEE requirements for exploration. That has since been amended.
“The Minerals Council’s overarching concern with the bill is that in its current form it does not encourage investment in the industry for growth. Its reliance on regulations that have yet to be published for public scrutiny make it impossible to fully engage the department in detail on key elements of the bill,” the council said.
Like a miner without a headlamp, this means that the industry is groping in the dark.
What this means for the industry
Regulatory clarity is crucial for investment in the mining sector. Without investment, there is no mining and no transformation in the sector. A lengthy engagement where both sides display compromise would be the best outcome. Otherwise it will probably end up in court — and the regulator usually loses on that front.
In a presentation, the council said key areas of broad focus and contention included transformation and empowerment — subjects that have long been bones of contention in post-apartheid South Africa.
On that front, the Minerals Council produced a new factsheet to burnish its transformation credentials.
Historically disadvantaged South Africans now have a 39% ownership stake in the mining sector, far above the 26% target. Much of this stems from pension funds.
“In 2023, a study on employment equity and human resource development showed women now make up 19% of the full-time workforce, with ongoing efforts to improve representation and safety,” the factsheet reads.
“Through Social and Labour Plans (SLPs), the mining sector invests more than R3-billion annually in community development — far exceeding the 1% Net Profit After Tax benchmark in other sectors — funding schools, roads, clinics, water and sanitation projects, and much more.”
In the presentation, one chart showed that monthly per capita earnings for miners have soared about six-fold the past 20 years to more than R30,000.
The industry is arming itself with facts before what may be a long slog.
‘Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’.