A quick about turn on South Africa's draft Mineral Resources Development Bill, 2025

On Tuesday 20 May 2025, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (Department) released the Mineral Resources Development Bill, 2025 (Bill) for public comment (available here). The Bill elicited a decidedly mixed response from the mining sector. 

Following widespread public concern over two of the amendments proposed under the Bill, the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (the Minister) issued an erratum notice (the Correction) on Monday 9 June 2025 (available here) to further revise the amendments in respect of sections 11 and 17. Section 11 regulates the mechanism with which the holder of a prospecting and mining right must comply if it wishes to transfer or encumber the rights (or an interests in such a right), and section 17 the duty placed on applicants for prospecting rights to meet specific Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) requirements.

Originally, the proposed amendments to section 11(1) would have obliged mining companies to obtain the Minister’s consent prior to (i) the transfer of 'any interest' in an unlisted company and (ii) a change in controlling interest in a listed company. This would have widened the scope of section 11, which regulates the transfer of a controlling interest only in unlisted companies and entirely exempts listed companies from its provisions. Under the Correction, section 11(1) will continue to exempt listed companies from requiring Ministerial consent, but it is unclear what the position of unlisted companies will be. There is no indication whether the Department wishes to maintain the status quo (namely, a controlling interest in an unlisted company), reduce the scope of the provision or expand it (for example, to any interest in an unlisted company), as was initially proposed.

Originally, the proposed amendments to section 17(1)(f) would have obliged the Minister to consider whether the granting of a prospecting right will both (i) further the empowerment objectives referred to in section 2(d) and (ii) comply with the Mining Charter, amongst other things, as contemplated in section 100(3)(b). This would have rendered applications for prospecting rights, which are not currently subject to the requirements of the Mining Charter, subject to a host of B-BBEE requirements. Under the Correction, section 17(1)(f) has been deleted in its entirety, so the Minister will no longer be required to consider whether the granting of a prospecting right will further the objects referred to in section 2(d), and compliance with section 100(3)(b) is likewise removed as a further consideration.

While the Correction is a step in the right direction, the uncertainty surrounding section 11(1) remains a concern.