The draft Mineral Resources Development Bill, 2025 has been released for public comment. Interested parties have until 13 August 2025 to submit written comments. The Draft Bill was approved by the Cabinet last week together with a Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy.
The statement by the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on Cabinet’s approval of the Draft Bill indicated, among other things, that that the strategic objective of the Draft Bill includes ensuring policy and regulatory certainty and enhancing investor confidence; and reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies and improving turnaround times for mining rights, permits and regulatory approvals.
Many commentators have, however, pointed to elements of the Draft Bill that should be addressed to avoid having the opposite effect. For example, most of the clear recommendations in the Mining Dialogues 360° and Good Governance Africa report titled ‘Mineral Policy Review: Findings and Recommendations’, and dated August 2024, are not carried through in this Draft Bill.
For the rest of this column: https://www.mining.com/web/column-south-africas-2025-draft-mineral-bill-requires-revisions-to-attract-investment/