Providing a brief overview of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral and Petroleum Resources, committee Chairperson Mr Mikateko Mahlaule highlighted some of the sector’s challenges and outlined some encouraging developments, writes Alicestine October. Mr Mahlaule was talking at the weekly committee cluster media briefing at Parliament.
Mr Mahlaule said one of the committee’s big concerns is the decline in exploration. He said there was a decline in exploration, with the global expenditure share dropping from 5% in 2003 to below 1%. “And that means fewer mines because we are not exploring. So, as a committee, we had to interrogate that.”
Illegal Mining
The Chairperson also touched on the issue of illegal mining. He said that while illegal mining is a huge concern for the country, the committee noted the department’s efforts to regulate the artisanal and small-scale mining subsector. “We would also like to note the positive efforts that the NATJoints make to fight the scale of illegal mining. The intelligence work that is put into this has allowed them to crack down on the huge illegal operation, including the one in Stilfontein, which attracted a lot of talks locally and internationally.”
Mr Mahlauli highlighted the need for funding and support for artisanal and small-scale mining. “There is a policy that guides artisanal and small-scale mining, but we don’t think it has teeth or enables government to assist artisanal and small-scale mining.” He said reviewing the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act is needed to factor in these small-scale miners. “We look forward to the department’s review.”
Legislation in the pipeline
He also reflected on some legislation that is making its way to the committee. Among them is the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC) Bill. In October this year, Cabinet approved submitting the Bill to Parliament. The Bill establishes the State Petroleum Company, as contemplated in section 34 of the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act, through a merger of PetroSA, the South African Gas Development Company (iGas) and the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF).
According to the Chairperson, the Petroleum Products Bill, which seeks to streamline the licensing and appeals processes, will also come before the committee for processing. The Mine Health and Safety Amendment Bill, which seeks to streamline administrative processes, strengthen enforcement provisions, and increase penalties, among other things, will also come before the committee.
Alexkor
On the committee’s list for next quarter, is a visit to the newly acquired entity that formerly belonged to Public Enterprises, Alexkor. Alexkor is a stare mining company with diamond mining as its core business. “We will be spending time to understand what its challenges are. We met with Alexkor and realised that their business model is very complex, and there is instability in terms of governance.” Among the immediate concerns, Mr Mahlaule said, was to fill the vacancies of board members whose terms have expired this month. “We want the minister to fill the vacancies so that the board can meet its quorum and meet regularly,” he said.
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