South Africa will release a final draft of a charter to transform the country’s white-dominated mining industry next week, a spokesman for the minerals minister said.
”We hope that it will be a final version,” spokesman Kanyo Gqulu told journalists.
He said President Thabo Mbeki would sign a broader new Minerals Bill into law on Friday and would also receive a copy of the draft charter from industry representatives who negotiated the document.
Investors in mining stocks are keen to see details of the charter — described as the flesh of the Minerals Bill — which sets targets and deadlines for increased black participation in the key mining sector.
Details of the charter would not be released on Friday but would go before the Chamber of Mines, which represents the mining industry. Mbeki had indicated that he wanted a few days to study the details before making them public.
Gqulu said the details of the charter would be released once the Chamber had scrutinised the documents on Tuesday and Cabinet, which sits on Wednesday, had also studied it.
A first draft leaked to Web site MiningWeb in July scared investors with suggestions that 30% of existing mining assets and 51% of all new projects be transferred to black businesses within 10 years.
Global diversified miner Anglo American Plc, the market’s biggest stock, lost a fifth of its value after the draft was released.
Since then, industry stakeholders have worked speedily to contain the damage, and negotiations between the government mining houses and unions for a more investor-friendly charter got under way last month.
Analysts are hoping the final draft will boost mining shares with less stringent quotas. – Reuters