By Sharyn Macnamara

With the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill imminent, the Minerals Council South Africa hosted an exclusive media roundtable discussion on 9 April 2025 focused on the current status of transformation in the mining industry in the country. With the current review of the MPRDA in process, it was an opportune time to reflect on how much the mining sector in South Africa has transformed since the Act came into effect in 2004. The first Mining Charter was implemented in 2004, setting targets for transformation and the industry is now operating under a third iteration of the Charter.

Mining Charter 2018 Procurement Scorecard, Inclusive Procurement and Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Progress Report 2023/24.

Mining Charter 2018 Procurement Scorecard, Inclusive Procurement and Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Progress Report 2023/24. Supplied by Minerals Council South Africa and Signa Group

A consistent path of transformation

It was at this discussion that the council released insights gleaned from a study into members’ compliance with two aspects of the current iteration of the Charter – Inclusive Procurement and Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD). CEO Mzila Mthenjane said, “The Minerals Council and its members have been on a consistent path of transformation.

“The mining industry has made significant progress in transformation, despite the headwinds and the constraints caused by years of regulatory and policy uncertainty, the slow processes of approving prospecting and mining rights hampering the growth of the industry and operational constraints caused by irregular access to power and the increasing cost of electricity and logistics, which at the best of times have not been reliable, both in terms of rail and ports,” said Mthenjane.

 

Progress Report 2023/24

Top line – the Inclusive Procurement and Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Progress Report 2023/24 showed that the the mining charter 2018 targets were met at an aggregate level at an industry level. Out of the around 70 Council members, 42 member companies were targeted for this research. Data was collected on a voluntary basis and 29 member companies, collectively holding 85 Mining Rights, participated in the survey. Total procurement spend for mining goods and services for the surveyed companies amounted to ZAR271.5-billion, the breakdown of which can be seen in the Mining Charter Procurement Scorecard above.

Overall, the companies surveyed achieved the full 15 points in the compliance target for procurement of mining goods, having exceeded targets in most cases. Against the targets set for procured services, the surveyed companies scored a total of 19.84 points out of 20, having missed the target for spend on women-owned companies.

On the day, African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror spoke to Tebello Chabana – senior executive – and Fundiswa Ndaba, senior policy analyst of Public Affairs and Transformation for the Council. Watch these short videos of the conversations had about current progress, stakeholder engagement and the Council’s future strategy – particularly when it comes to supporting women owned and empowered businesses within the mining procurement space – and about current progress in inclusive procurement and key insights based on the survey conducted on 2023 data.

  1. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7315714764532342784
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7315708369099485184

In the words of Mthenjane and Ndaba respectively, the time is now to move from “potential to performance” and “compliance to impact” for sustainability in the South African mining sector.

Keep an eye out for an in-depth look at the insights shared in future African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror issues.