Mineral Resources Development Amendment Bill: Draft Amendments and Erratum Notice

Posted 31 May 2025 Written by Acts Online
Category Mining & Minerals

Brought to you by SA Legal Academy: The Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) has released the draft Mineral Resources Development Amendment Bill for public comment, followed by a corrective erratum notice regarding prospecting and mining rights.

In terms of the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act, No. 28 of 2002 (MPRDA), the proposed amendments seek to update the regulatory framework for the mining sector. On 9 June 2025, the DMRE gazetted an erratum notice containing a schedule that corrects proposed amendments to sections 11 and 17 of the principal statute. Section 11 governs the transferability and encumbrance of prospecting and mining rights, while section 17 addresses the granting and duration of prospecting rights.

The erratum notice introduces the following specific corrections to the draft Bill:

  • The removal of references to ‘small-scale... or artisanal mining permit’ from the proposed amendments to sub-section 11(1).
  • The removal of the reference to broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) from the proposed amendments to sub-section 17(1)(f).

The draft Bill must be considered in conjunction with the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act (UPRDA). Once the UPRDA is operationalised, it will repeal all sections of the MPRDA pertaining to petroleum resources. This legislative split is intended to create two independent statutes to provide regulatory stability for the mineral and petroleum industries respectively.

The current draft Mineral Resources Development Amendment Bill follows the lapse of a previous 2013 amendment bill which was remitted by the President in 2015 and eventually withdrawn. Stakeholders should note that the current draft was published without an accompanying memorandum on its objects and does not yet formally reflect a change in the MPRDA’s title to exclude petroleum resources.

The deadline for public comments on the draft Mineral Resources Development Amendment Bill is 13 August 2025.

Click here to download the erratum notice and schedule.

What this means for you, your business, or your clients

  • For yourself: No direct individual obligations; professional awareness is required regarding the impending separation of mineral and petroleum regulatory frameworks.
  • For your business: Mining firms must adjust their compliance roadmaps to account for the removal of B-BBEE requirements in the granting of prospecting rights under the corrected section 17(1)(f) and the revised transferability rules in section 11.
  • For your clients: Legal and compliance advisors must ensure clients submit written representations on the draft Bill by the 13 August 2025 deadline, specifically addressing the exclusion of artisanal mining permits from the transferability provisions.

Originally published at https://legalacademy.co.za/news/read/in-the-spotlight-mineral-resources-development-amendment-bill

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