New Mining Charter still unlikely to attract significant new investment
At first glance, the new version of the Mining Charter appears to be an improvement on the disastrous initial offering, but it still amounts to a tightening of the rules governing investment.
The document contains some welcome proposals:
The effective recognition of the principle of once empowered always empowered avoids a messy legal fight and provides comfort as to the viability of some major mining projects;
The confirmation of the withdrawal of the MPRDA amendment is overdue, and avoids the double whammy of a new charter followed by a set of changes to the basic legislation;
The dropping of the trickle-down dividend;