Johannesburg - Mining companies in South Africa have been
frozen out of consultation over regulatory changes that could dilute
shareholders, raise costs and impose new levies to fund community development.
South Africa’s Cabinet last week approved a new draft of
the country’s Mining Charter and Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has promised
it will be gazetted within weeks. Yet, while labour leaders have been consulted
on the long-delayed new rules, the Chamber of Mines, which represents
producers, says it “does not have any insight” into the latest version and
hasn’t met government officials on the subject since March.
The looming dispute threatens to prolong uncertainty and
further slow spending in South Africa’s biggest export industry. Fixed
investment in mining dropped in each of the past two years and companies
including Sibanye Gold have warned that any new investment will be a tough sell
in the current environment.
“The government and the Chamber of Mines haven’t really
sat down on this issue, and much of the public discourse has been posturing by
both sides,” said John Meyer, a London-based analyst at SP Angel Corporate
Finance. The industry may head to court if government imposes harmful changes,
the Chamber said this month.
South Africa holds the biggest reserves of platinum,
chrome and manganese. In 2010, Citigroup valued the mineral wealth at $2.5
trillion, the most of any nation. Mining companies including Anglo American,
Glencore and AngloGold Ashanti operate in the nation.
Read also: Zwane wants 30% black ownership
The industry will be particularly concerned about changes
to black ownership requirements. Zwane shocked the sector last year with a
draft charter that would require much of the industry to sell additional shares
to maintain ownership levels after earlier investors sold their stakes.
He has now also proposed raising the minimum to 30
percent from 26 percent, two people familiar with the situation last week. It’s
unclear whether the cabinet approved Zwane’s proposal, or if the new draft
includes the provision allowing miners to claim credits for past deals where
they have sold stakes or assets to black investors, even if the ownership has
since changed.
Ayanda Shezi, a spokeswoman for DMR, didn’t immediately
reply to an email request for comment.
“We’re not shy if
we need to engage government in court processes,” Roger Baxter, the Chamber’s
chief executive officer, told reporters May 24. “Government has the same route
if they want to follow it.”
South Africa’s push for increased black ownership of the
mining industry is part of an effort to address the legacy of apartheid that
locked the black majority out of key sectors. Yet critics say many deals have
benefited the politically-connected elite and deter foreign investors in the
country.
While the industry remains in the dark, the National
Union of Mineworkers, the largest labor group in the sector, has had “in-depth
stakeholder engagement” with Zwane’s department, according to Luthando Brukwe,
the union’s head of transformation.
The NUM has asked government to require at least 10
percent of mining companies to be owned by employees, he said in an interview.
It should also be mandatory for producers to take steps to help employees own
their homes, he said.
The union is opposed to the idea that mining companies
get credit for sales to black investors who later dispose of the assets.
Us vs them
Zwane, who was appointed minister in 2015, has clashed
repeatedly with the industry over issues that also included enforced safety
stoppages. The revised mine-ownership rules will be published whether the
industry agrees with them or not, he told reporters in February.
“The style of engagement is totally us-versus-them,”
Peter Major, head of mining at Cadiz Corporate Solutions, said by phone.
“When I talk to anyone involved in mining they say it has never been more
polarised.”