Mining in focus
Mines, communities,
and ownership
Ownership and
transformation are hot
topics in the mining
industry at the moment,
writes Dineo Phoshoko.
[26] MINING MIRROR SEPTEMBER 2018
D
ebates and discussions about
mine companies and how they
accommodate communities
regarding ownership have always been
around. In an article, “Mining, land,
and community in communal areas I
— what could be achieved and why it is
not”, for the Helen Suzman Foundation,
Tamara Jewett discussed the structure of
mineral rights in South Africa — where
private land owners were prevented
from blocking mining development
that could potentially be beneficial
to the country as a whole. Jewett
highlighted that a major disadvantage
of the structure was that in practice, it
produced negotiations that put rural
black communities at a disadvantage.
“The days where one exploits a region for
the benefit of investors halfway around
the world without any gain to the local
community is over. Not only is it over, it is
wrong. If you take, you need to give back,”
says SHiP CEO, Shirley Hayes.
According to the proposed Mining
Charter III, mining companies are
required to have 30% black ownership
for mining rights. This includes economic
interest and a corresponding percentage of
voting right in a mine right or company.
The 30% will be divided among employees
of the mine (8%), the community (8%),
and BEE entrepreneurs (14%).
“What worries me as a South
African, is why are the majority of
the people in the country turned