Modern Mining July 2025

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Digging for a new deal By Dr Ross Harvey, director of research and programmes at Good Governance Africa (GGA)

The vision for mining needs focus on attracting exploration investment for minerals of the future.

Dr Ross Harvey, director of research and programmes at Good Governance Africa (GGA)

M any of you will be aware that the South African legislation. A public comment window has been opened until mid-August. An examination of business. Responsible investors must account for why they spend a dollar in one country and not another. Investing in mining in South Africa has become increasingly unwarranted over the last two decades. If the proposed amendments go through as they are currently written, the industry’s death will be accelerated. Imagine the following scenario: You are an investor based in London and decide to take a patriotic risk and invest in a mining project in South Africa. After all, the ore body is rich, the infrastructure is relatively good by Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) has just gazetted its latest set of proposed amendments to the country’s mining the amendments makes it hard to think of anything that sends a stronger signal that South Africa is not open for responsible

continental standards, and there is plenty of deep mining knowledge in the country. Your immediate superior calls you in and asks why you decided to gamble investors’ money on a country that has, since 2004, consistently signalled to the world that it values excessive ministerial discretion, will not commit to licensing transparency or competitive processing timeframes, and insists

The bill appears extractive rather than enabling. It doesn’t seek co-investment or alignment with mining companies but views them as entities to be regulated and milked.

on ill-defined beneficiation and empowerment rules. You respond that it’s complex, mining has a

terrible history, hasn’t treated local communities at all well on average, and was instrumental in fomenting extensive fractures in the social fabric. And the quality of the ore body is worth the potential value-destruction risk. What

do you think your superior might say? The truth is that it is complex. However, you cannot milk a cow that isn’t producing milk. I ran the

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