Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

The Portfolio Committee on Mining is currently hearing oral submissions from stakeholders in the mining sector on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, 2013. These hearings started on 11 September 2013, and is still underway, with the last session scheduled for 18 September 2013. The Portfolio Committee on Water & Environmental Affairs has scheduled hearings on various amendment bills for the week commencing 16 September 2013, including the National Environmental Laws Amendment Bill known as NEMLAB3, which also addresses issues relating to mining and its proposed regulation under NEMA.

On 10 September 2013, a rare joint sitting of the Portfolio Committees on Mining and Water & Environmental Affairs received a joint presentation by the Departments of Mineral Resources, Environmental Affairs and Water Affairs on the work of the Inter-departmental Project Implementation Committee (IPIC) on its efforts to streamline mining, environmental and water authorisation for mining activities. IPIC’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

A set of the following documents were made available to the Portfolio Committee by IPIC:

1. Implementation matrix: environmental management of mines
2. The 2008 agreement on the environmental management of mines between the Minister of Mineral Resources and the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs
3. Implementation of the 2008 agreement
4. Minutes of joint Portfolio Committee meeting: Mineral Resources and Environmental Affairs and Tourism – 13 May 2008
5. MPRD Amendment Act, 2008
6. NEMA Amendment Act, 2008
7. EIA Regulations and Listing Notices
8. NEMLAB 2
9. NEMLAB 3
10. Further NEMA Alignment Amendments
11. MPRD Amendment Bill, 2013
12. EIA Regulations proposed amendments
13. Mine Appeals Regulations
14. MPRDA Timeframes Draft Regulations

If you missed it last week, you can see the joint submissions by civil society organisations here.