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Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No. 53 of 2003)

Codes of Good Practice on Black Economic Empowerment

Mining Sector Charter

Amendment of the Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry

Definitions

 

 

"BEE entity"

means an entity of which a minimum of 25% + 1 vote of share capital is directly owned by HDSA as measured in accordance with flow through principle;

 

"Beneficiation"

means the transformation of a mineral (or a combination of minerals) to a higher value product, which can either be consumed locally or exported. The term "beneficiation" is often used interchangeably with mineral "value-addition" or "downstream beneficiation";

 

"Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment (BBSEE)"

means a socio-economic strategy, plan, principle, approach or act, which is aimed at:

(a) Redressing the results of past or present discrimination based on race, sex and disability of historically disadvantaged persons in the minerals and petroleum industry, related industries and in the value chain of such industries; and
(b) Transforming such industries so as to assist in, provide for, initiate, facilitate or benefit from the:
Ownership participation in existing or future mining, prospecting, exploration and beneficiation operations;
Participation in or control of management of such operations;
Development of management, scientific, engineering or other skills of HDSA's;
Involvement of or participation in the procurement chains of operations;
Integrated socio-economic development for mine workers, host communities, major labour sending areas and areas that due to unintended consequences of mining are becoming ghost towns by mobilising all stakeholder resources;

 

"Calendar year"

is defined as the one year period that begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st;

 

"Community"

means a coherent, social group of persons with interest of rights in a particular area of land which the members have or exercise communally in terms of an agreement, custom or law;

 

"Demographics"

means the numerical characteristics of a population (e.g. population size, age, structure, sex/gender, race, etc.)

 

"Effective ownership"

means the meaningful participation of HDSAs in the ownership, voting rights, economic interest and management control of mining entities;

 

"EMP"

means an approved environmental programme contemplated in Section 39 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002);

 

"Enterprise development"

means monetary and non monetary support for existing or fostering of new HDSA companies in the mining sector of the economy, with the objective of contributing to their development, sustainability as well as financial and operational independence;

 

"ESOPs"
mean Employees Share Ownership Schemes;

 

"Historically Disadvantaged South Africans" ("HDSA")

refers to South Africa citizens, category of persons or community, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination before the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act No. 200 of 1993) came into operation which should be representative of the demographics of the country;

 

"Labour sending area"
areas from which a majority of mineworkers, both historical and current are or have been sourced;

 

"Level of management"
refers to line of demarcation between various managerial positions;

 

"Life of Mine"
means the number of years that a particular mine will be operational;

 

"Meaningful economic participation"
includes, inter alia, the following key attributes:
BEE transactions shall be concluded with clearly identifiable beneficiaries in the form of BEE entrepreneurs, workers (including ESOPs) and communities;
Barring any unfavourable market conditions, some of the cash flow should flow to the BEE partner throughout the term of the investment, and for this purpose, stakeholders will engage the financing entities in order to structure the BEE financing in a manner where a percentage of the cash-flow is used to service the funding of the structure, while the remaining amount is paid to the BEE beneficiaries.  Accordingly, BEE entities are enabled to leverage equity henceforth in proportion to vested interest over the life of the transaction in order to facilitate sustainable growth of BEE entities.
BEE shall have full shareholder rights such as being entitled to full participation at annual general meetings and exercising of voting rights, regardless of the legal form of the instruments used;
Ownership shall vest within the timeframes agreed with the BEE entity, taking into account market conditions.

 

"Mining Charter"
means the broad-based socio-economic empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry;

 

"Mine Community"
refers to communities where mining takes place and labour sending areas;

 

"Non-discretionary procurement expenditure"
means expenditure that cannot be influenced by a mining company, such as procurement from the public sector and public enterprises;

 

"Shareholder"
shall mean a person who is entitled to exercise any voting rights in relation to a company, irrespective of the form, title or nature of the securities to which those voting rights are attached.

 

"Social Fund"
refers to a trust fund that provides financing for investments targeted at meeting the needs of poor and vulnerable communities as informed by commitments made by companies in terms of their social and labour plans;

 

"Stakeholder"
refers to a person, group, organisation, or system which affects or can be affected by an organisation's actions which may relate to policies intended to allow the aforementioned to participate in decision making in which all may have a stake;

 

"Sustainable development"
means the integration of social, economic and environmental factors into planning, implementation and decision-making to ensure that the mineral and petroleum resources development serves present and future generations;