Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has published a 54-page document detailing the processes, procedures, forms and templates that the mining industry has to follow to comply with the requirements of Mining Charter III.

The document, dated December 19 and published in the Government Gazette, does not introduce new requirements and is intended to facilitate compliance.

The long-awaited Mining Charter, which requires the mining industry to implement ownership, mineral beneficiation, procurement and supplier development requirements, among others, was gazetted on September 27.

Mantashe, who was appointed Minister in late February, has been lauded for his collaborative and inclusive approach to negotiating the third iteration of the Mining Charter, in stark contrast to how his predecessor, Mosebenzi Zwane, dealt with the revision of the charter. The gazetted Mining Charter dropped a number of contentious clauses from the version that was presented by Zwane in June 2017.

An industry-supported and well-implemented charter is seen as key to creating policy certainty, which has emerged as one of the key objectives of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership.