[miningmx.com] – THE South African government has missed a self-imposed deadline to ask the courts to clarify aspects of the mining charter, said Bloomberg News citing Mahlodi Muofhe, a spokesman for Ngoako Ramatlhodi, the country’s mines minister.
“We don’t want to waste the court’s time by filing papers which are not well-cooked,’ Muofhe told the newswire in respect of the principle of once-empowered, always-empowered which the government and the mining sector are contesting.
The mining sector believes that empowerment deals where the partner has sold its stake ought to be recognised by the government – an interpretration that Ramatlhodi believes is not in the meaning of the charter.
Ramatlhodi said on March 31 that an audit conducted by his Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) found the South African mining sector had failed to meet ownership targets set down by the charter in 2004.
However, he said the DMR and the mining sector would jointly asked the courts to clarify on the once-empowered, always-empowered rule with the intention of extracting a decision by the end of April.
“Key to the implementation of the charter is the understanding’ of its provisions, Muofhe told Bloomberg News.
“The minister wishes to implement the Mining Charter as soon as possible; it is regrettable this misunderstanding of the interpretation is basically keeping things on hold,’ he said.
