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South African Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said he would prefer that the country’s laws on oil and gas exploration be split from mining legislation.

 

“The key thing is to try to separate the oil and gas from your traditional mining, in other words, have a separate bill for that,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If I could achieve that I would be very happy. We must check the legal position to see if that can be done.”

 

President Jacob Zuma declined to sign changes to the 2002 Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill on the grounds that it may violate the constitution and referred it back to Parliament on Jan. 16. Oil and gas explorers including Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. have opposed the provisions, saying they were too vague and would undermine business.

 

“I would want to stay with the principles that have been agreed upon with regard to the old bill, between the stakeholders: government, the industry, the chamber, unions,” Ramatlhodi said.

 

Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the world’s biggest producer of the metal that’s a unit of Anglo American Plc, is selling four mines and possibly two joint ventures in South Africa, which Ramatlhodi said he sees as an opportunity to allow “real ownership by indigenous people.”

 

‘National Champion’

 

“I am talking the language of a national champion of sorts,” he said. “Anglo American, BHP Billiton Plc -- they were originally born in South Africa but they outgrew us. I want something that can replace them in a significant way so you can change the patterns of ownership of mines.”

 

South Africa has black economic-empowerment legislation to make up for discrimination during the apartheid era, when non-white South Africans were hindered from participating in the economy. The laws include compelling the sale of stakes in companies to non-white citizens.

 

“We should be content to discuss the principles and let the companies follow those broad principles because they are private transactions,” Ramatlhodi said. “I would hesitate to interfere to the extent where one says go and choose one. That is not right.”

 

South Africa’s gold and coal companies will hold wage negotiations before their two-year contracts with labor unions expire in June. Last year, workers at the world’s largest platinum mines northwest of Johannesburg held a five-month strike over pay, the longest in the country’s history.

 

Ramatlhodi said he plans to meet with the chief executive officers of gold companies, which include world No. 3 producer AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Harmony Gold Mining Co., to understand their intentions. “I will hopefully also get an audience with the unions to have a sense, without interfering in the process,” he said.

 

 

Source: Bloomberg