The absence of a functional mining cadastre in South Africa, which has been undermining the sector for years, is now having potentially negative knock-on effects for developers of renewable-energy projects, particularly in Mpumalanga – a region where there is still capacity to connect new projects to the grid and the designated epicentre of South Africa’s just energy transition.

AmaranthCX director Paul Miller, who has conducted extensive mapping of the coal mines and projects in Mpumalanga, says without the cadastre renewables developers are facing difficulties in complying with a legal requirement to identify any mining or prospecting rights on, or within two kilometres of the proposed development.

This requirement is outlined in Section 53 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which states that any developer of a non-agricultural project must apply to the Mineral Resources and Energy Minister or a delegated local official for permission to proceed with the development. That delegated local official must also identify and then consult with all affected rights holders.

The requirement is designed to prevent the sterilisation of mineral resources, and Miller says it is not desirable that it be suspended or scrapped, as it is necessary to check for competing rights.

In a recent article published in Business Day, Seriti Resources CEO Mike Teke and Seriti Green CEO Peter Venn also noted the need for wind developers to comply with Section 53 of the MPRDA as one of several regulatory steps that had to be undertaken before proceeding with construction.

The other lesser-discussed requirements highlighted in the article included securing approval for tall structures from the Civil Aviation Authority and confirmation with the South African Weather Service that the turbines will not interfere with weather radars.

Miller argued that, without a functional mining cadastre, it is practically impossible for project developers to determine who has what rights and where these are.

“I have heard that the DMRE itself is taking upwards of six months just to identify which rights holders may be affected by a new project.

“This poses a serious red tape bottleneck, while the country sits in the dark for upwards of ten hours a day,” Miller says, adding that the process to comply with Section 53 is also not clear, while the DMRE has huge discretion.

Miller believes the process is so time-consuming because the department's own Geographic Information System (GIS) data is spread across the Samrad system, which has been described as dysfunctional, as well as poorly managed, paper files.

“Due to a complete absence of transparency by way of an open online mining cadastre there is no way for a developer to determine if a project will impact on mining rights or prospecting rights, other than to approach the department.

“The department must then determine what rights exist in the vicinity of the project and contact those rights holders.”

The roadblock could be eased, Miller argued, if the DMRE were to periodically extract the full ESRI geodatabase file from the ArcGIS system that underlies Samrad and make it available for download on its website. Miller says this could be done in an afternoon at no additional cost to the department.

“Then a developer’s own GIS consultants could use their own systems to take a look at what rights are competing.

“The developer could then solicit letters of no objection from those rights holders and submit them with the Section 53 application to the DMRE.

“This would help ameliorate the bottleneck until a functional mining cadastre is procured and implemented - which is still many years away.”

Should such a temporary solution not emerge, Miller believes it may be necessary for the renewables industry to take legal action to force transparency by the DMRE. 

“Perhaps the organised renewable energy industry will have the courage that the mining industry has not yet displayed.

“The promises of an imminent functional cadastre by the Minister and the DMRE are simply no longer believable.”

In an interview with Busines Times, Minerals Council South Africa chief economist Henk Langenhoven also underlined the importance of sorting out the cadastre logjam for resuscitating exploration, which he says is “virtually at a standstill”.

Likewise, the lack of a functional system has resulted in thousands of outstanding and duplicated or overlapping licences.

“You will get a licence for a certain piece of land, and then someone else will get a similar piece of land but a slightly different mineral. Which is completely untenable,” Langenhoven says.