JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - The State mining company is exempt from the “application” criteria of South Africa’s minerals legislation only, and not from the legislation’s key “granting” criteria, says Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) DDG Jacinto Rocha.
Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica has, in a Government Gazette notice, exempted the State-owned African Exploration Mining & Finance Corporation (AEMFC) – the vehicle for the development of the State mining company – from provisions dealing with applications for prospecting rights, mining rights and mining permits.
These provisions, South Africa’s Chamber of Mines (CoM) says in a media release, require applicants to submit environmental management programmes (EMPs), and to consult with interested and affected parties.
Rocha tells Mining Weekly Online that AEMFC will have to develop an EMP to fulfil the “granting” criteria, and will be required to consult with local communities in the process of developing that EMP.
Rocha adds that AEMFC will also have to comply with mine health and safety legislation, as well as with social and labour plans and black economic-empowerment requirements in the event of a mining right being granted.
AEMFC, he confirms, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the State-owned Central Energy Fund (CEF) and thus an organ of State.
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