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- The backlog of unprocessed applications for mining-related permits is over 5 000.
- The Department of Mineral Resources has come under fire for driving away investment as it fails to address the issue.
- There is a notable bottleneck related to coal mining permits in Mpumalanga and exploration in the Northern Cape.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has a backlog of applications for various rights and permits extending past 5 000.
The backlog had previously been reported as just over 2 600, but this had not included permits and permit renewals, as is the case now.
Presenting to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Tuesday, the DMRE said the largest backlogs relate to prospecting rights (1 449) and mining permits (2 185).
The ministry's chief director of mineral regulation, Motlatso Kobe, said there was a particular backlog in the Mpumalanga and Northern Cape regional offices.
About 75% of the mining permits backlog is attributable to Mpumalanga. This, the department said, relates largely to coal mining and a trend in which when a prospecting right is applied for, and disclosed in the public domain, a flood of mining permits for the same area flood in and clog up the system.
Almost half the prospecting rights backlog relates to the Northern Cape. The department suggested this relates to capacity constraints and will necessitate the reallocation of resources from other provinces.
The department came under fire by MPs for discouraging investment through its failure to process applications.
The EFF's Phiwaba Madokwe said the department was quick to blame the environmental lobby for hurting investment in new mining projects, "but the department itself is creating conditions where people who want to invest in South Africa and who actually want to do business in South Africa are not able to because you are failing dismally to give them the licences that they're supposed to get on time".
Madokwe and other MPs further voiced their concern that the inability to obtain the required permits was driving operators to embark on illegal mining activities.
The department said the backlog would be eradicated by the end of the financial year, especially at the Mpumalanga and Northern Cape offices. The department said that more details on how the it plans to do this – and what, in fact, caused such a significant backlog in the first place – would have to be addressed in a subsequent presentation to Parliament.
The issue has no doubt been exacerbated by the absence of a transparent, digitised mining rights system – a cadastre – that is commonplace in many other mining jurisdictions worldwide.
Hilda Mhlongo, the department's DDG for corporate services, said the tender was being run through the State Information Technology Agency (Sita).
The submission deadline closed on 5 May, and evaluation of the bids began last week.
After the bid evaluation process, a report will be compiled before a final recommendation will name the preferred service provider. This is due on 5 July this year, whereafter the contracting process will begin.
