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Gazetted 03-02-2023
28/09/21 | : Cabinet approved principles. |
03/02/23 | : Date of gazetting |
14/02/23 | : Bill appears on order paper |
16/02/23 | : Bill introduced to the National Assembly |
16/02/23 | : First reading |
16/02/23 | : Bill referred to Parliamentary Legal Committee |
20/02/23-10/03/23 | : Public Hearings |
09/05/23 | : PLC issued an adverse report [link] |
MINES AND MINERALS BILL, 2022
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Memorandum
This Bill will replace the Mines and Minerals Act [Chapter 21:05] in order to achieve the following main objects:
(a) to change the composition of the Mining Affairs Board and to clarify and extend its functions;
(b) to formalise the switch in title from “mining commissioner” to “Provincial Mining Director” (PMD): this is the official primarily responsible for administering the Mines and Minerals Act at the local level;
(c) to establish the Mining Cadastre Register and Registry, and to reduce the classes of Mining Titles to three only;
(d) consistently with the introduction of the Mining Cadastre Register, which will ensure uniformity and simplicity of mining titles, the pegging of secondary reefs and the holding of extra-lateral rights are abolished;
(e) regulate the activities of prospectors more closely, and to confine their activities to specific areas defined by grids;
(f) to remove the distinction between precious metal and base metal claims, and to abolish the extra-lateral rights which holders of precious metal claims enjoy at present;
(g) to provide for mining title to be granted in the form of a mining lease, where the title extends over four or more contiguous blocks;
(h) to require holders of mining rights to work their claims rather than allowing them to preserve their title by paying annual fees;
(i) to require miners to participate in funds and to make other provision to meet the cost of restoring the environment when their mining operations come to an end;
(j) to convert certain special grants into mining leases;
(k) to remove much of the excessive particularity from the Act (for example, the detailed provisions setting out the way in which claims must be pegged) and leaving such matters to be prescribed in regulations;
(l) to make provision for the indigenisation and localisation of the mining industry at the primary level of mining;
(m) the introduction of the concept of the concept of “strategic minerals” to which special conditions by mutual agreement between the Minister and the State will attach;
(n) generally, to make the procedures under the Act more transparent and to allow aggrieved persons a right of appeal to the Administrative Court against decisions which affect their rights.
The individual clauses of the Bill are hereunder outlined