Minerals Council warns Mantashe of 'looming confrontation' over mining bill
Council president Paul Dunne tells the minister the industry is ready to litigate again over empowerment provisions
The Minerals Council South Africa has put Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe on notice that the industry is prepared to challenge draft amendments to the MPRDA in court, escalating a dispute that has simmered since the bill's gazettal.
Council president Paul Dunne, who is also chief executive of Northam Platinum, told the minister directly: “We are very tough, and Minister, we are coming.” Mantashe, for his part, appeared to accept a legal fight was likely, telling an audience: “I know the industry will take us to court. I know it.”
What the dispute is about
The proposed amendments would add beneficiation and empowerment conditions to prospecting rights, something the Council had already asked to be dropped from the bill. Peter Leon of Herbert Smith Freehills warned the changes “may well promote more regulatory uncertainty” rather than the legal clarity the department says it is trying to deliver.
The Council, which represents companies responsible for around 90% of South Africa's mineral production by value, had already won a High Court challenge against the department in 2021 over similar empowerment provisions in the Mining Charter, establishing the “once empowered, always empowered” principle. That history looms over the current dispute: both sides are aware of how the last confrontation ended, and neither appears willing to back down first this time.
Why it matters
A public comment period on the bill ran to 13 August 2025, giving both sides a formal channel to negotiate before matters escalate further. But the tone of the exchange — a mining company chief executive telling a cabinet minister the industry is “coming” for him — signals that goodwill built up around the critical minerals strategy launched the same week was already under strain.
What happens next
Investors will be watching whether the friction is resolved through the parliamentary process or ends up back in the courts, as it did in 2021. Either path adds to the uncertainty the Minerals Council says is already deterring exploration capital from South Africa.
Sources
Photo: South African Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe. US Embassy South Africa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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