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The Mining Forum of South Africa has applied to the North West High Court to have the mining licences suspended of Lonmin, as well as Eastern Platinum and Western Platinum (both controlled by Lonmin). The Forum, a not for profit organisation that seeks regulatory compliance in the mining industry, says Lonmin has shirked its Social and Labour Plan (SLP) obligations.
It’s an old trick of the mining game: when it comes to paying for rehabilitation of mined land, duck the liability by selling the mine or declaring insolvency. Or put it under indefinite “care and maintenance”. New research by the Centre for Environmental Rights’ (CER) and Intellidex shows just how opaque mining rehabilitation is in SA.
Mining lawyer Hulme Scholes has brought an application before the Johannesburg High Court to have all three versions of the Mining Charter set aside on the grounds that they are unconstitutional. The government needs to replace the charters with law which will remove political interference from the policy process.
There has, quite appropriately, been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over South Africa's lamentable performance in the Fraser Institute's survey of the enabling environment for mining investment. In terms of one of the Institute's two indices – ‘policy perceptions’ – South Africa is the third worst performer on the African continent, writes David Christianson of the Institute of Race Relations.
Anthea Jeffery, head of special research at the SA Institute of Race Relations, argues that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill will impose a raft of unrealistic expectations on an already embattled mining industry in South Africa.
The draft Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill of 2013 vests the minister with sweeping and arbitrary powers, and will drive away investment, says the SA Institute of Race Relations. 
Reckless and arbitrary actions by government ministers have done as much damage to the mining industry as anything else, says John Kane-Berman of the SA Institute of Race Relations.The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Acts Online. Acts Online accepts no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or fairness of the article, nor does the information contained herein constitute advice, legal or otherwise.
