Digging into SA’S mining sector

As the world’s suits in hard hats descend on the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the first in-person Mining Indaba in two years, much has changed in the commodity landscape. But sadly, in SA not much has changed. The South African mining industry is nowhere near getting a new cadastral system, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said on the first day of the Mining Indaba 2022. During a question-and-answer session following his keynote address on Monday, Gwede Mantashe, South African Mines Minister acknowledged there was no timeframe for implementing a new mining cadastre to replace the dysfunctional SAMRAD system. “You can’t commit to a deadline for something that hasn’t started.” Let’s welcome our panel, Peter Leon, Partner and Africa Chair of international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills; Paul Miller of AmaranthCX, and Erroll Smart, CEO of Orion Minerals