Unease over environmental bill for SA miners

摘要

There is growing unease in South Africa's mining industry about the rising costs of the environment and social obligations. These fears are likely to worsen as the government confirmed plans for next month to tighten the environmental requirements in the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act. The act is a pillar of the Mining Charter aimed at opening up mining to the black majority and governs the conversion of so-called "old order" mineral rights from apartheid days to "new order" rights; when the ministry makes a decision whether to convert, black empowerment status is taken into account. Yvonne Mfolo, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Mining and Minerals, said that an amendment to the act would be on its way to a parliamentary portfolio committee in the last week in January. The amendment would make it imperative for mining companies to have their environmental proposals approved before a rights conversion was considered.