South African Miners Say Free Carry Will Kill New Projects – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – June 19, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The biggest threat posed by South Africa’s new Mining Charter may be to mines that haven’t been dug yet.

The draft rules, published Friday by Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, lay out several requirements for new mining rights, including that nearby communities and employees each get a 5 percent free-carried interest in either the asset or the company that owns it. The charter is aimed at distributing the industry’s wealth more widely among South Africans to make up for racial discrimination during apartheid.

New mines are already scarce in the country, which has been mined commercially for more than a century and where producers have struggled with rising costs, regulatory uncertainty and a restive labor force. The industry argues that the free carry — which means the respective groups don’t have to buy their shares or pay their way — will make new developments even less likely.

“We consider much of the South African resource base to be in sunset,” analysts at Morgan Stanley including Brian Morgan wrote in a note received Monday. Many potential projects have marginal economics to begin with and “higher hurdle rates could equate to lower future mining investment,” they said.

The free-carried interests for new mining rights are included in a mandatory 8 percent each to be held by workers and communities, while a further 14 percent must be owned by black entrepreneurs, according to the draft Mining Charter, which was published for public comment.

For the rest of this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-18/south-african-miners-say-free-carry-will-kill-new-projects