Business Mining Charter does not offer solutions to mining problems, Sipho Pityana says BL PREMIUM

SA risks driving away new investment and crippling its mining sector if "reckless" new rules are implemented, according to AngloGold Ashanti chairman Sipho Pityana. The latest Mining Charter, which is aimed at sharing the benefits of the country’s mineral wealth more equally among South Africans, doesn’t provide solutions to the industry’s challenges and will make it difficult for companies to buy and sell assets, Pityana said on Thursday. Much of SA’s mining industry is struggling with rising costs and faltering metal prices that have forced producers to slash thousands of jobs and shrink production. "When the industry says to you that what you are proposing will kill the industry, you should sit up and listen," Pityana said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Layers and layers of these things make mining an uninvestable proposition and you are talking about an industry that basically has its back up against the wall." Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe issued a new draft Minin...