The Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the Mining and Minerals Industry, 2018 (Mining Charter) was finalised and published on 27 September 2018 and stipulates that it is to be read together with Implementation Guidelines, which were set to be gazetted within two months of the Mining Charter being published.
 
The highly anticipated Implementation Guidelines were finalised and published on 19 December 2018, under Government Notice 1399 in Government Gazette 42122 (Implementation Guidelines) – a few weeks shy of the two-month deadline.
 
The purpose of the Implementation Guidelines is to outline processes, procedures, forms and templates to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Mining Charter. The Implementation Guidelines are not intended to introduce new requirements for mining right holders and further analysis on the specific requirements will follow.
 
An Amendment to the Mining Charter was also gazetted on 19 December 2018, under Government Notice 1398 in Government Gazette 42118 (Amendment). The Amendment introduces relatively minor changes to the Mining Charter, one such change being the introduction of a sanction for non-compliance with the ring-fenced mine community development element, which was previously not included in the Mining Charter.

Written By Giada Masina, Director and Nonhlanhla Mohlaba, Candidate Attorney in the Corporate and Commercial  practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr