South Africa targets key mining registry by end of March

South Africa expects to fully launch a long-awaited database of mineral rights within 10 months, according to a senior official.

The country’s government has frustrated investors by pushing back the implementation of the so-called cadastre, an online registry that displays mining and prospecting rights. Companies will use the new system to apply for licenses.

“We recognise that we have to move with speed,” Jacob Mbele, Director-General of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, said at a conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The government has “set ourselves a target” to migrate all nine South African provinces into the cadastre by the end of March 2027, he said.

Only the Western Cape, the province with the least mining activity in South Africa, has so far been incorporated into the system, according to Mbele.

South Africa is a major producer of gold, iron ore, coal and platinum-group metals. While the nation remains the continent’s top exporter of mineral products, there’s faster growth and more dealmaking in the mining sectors of nations such as Guinea, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Many other countries don’t have the complexity that we have,” Mbele said, underscoring how long commercial mining has been taking place in South Africa. “There’s a lot of data to move from the current system to the cadastre.”

The government appointed a consortium of firms to build the new system in January 2024. Major companies with operations in South Africa include Valterra Platinum, Exxaro Resources and Gold Fields. The establishment of the cadastre is considered especially important for boosting investment by junior and exploration mining firms.

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