Comment on proposed amendment to transitional provisions in the regulations pertaining to Financial Provisioning for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) submitted a comment on 20 May 2021 objecting to a proposed amendment by the Minister of Environmental Affairs to extend the transitional period for mining right holders to comply with the 2015 Financial Provision Regulations.

• The Minister of Environmental Affairs proposed an amendment on 22 April 2021 to extend the compliance deadline for certain mining right holders from 19 June 2021 to 19 June 2022. This would mean that holders who obtained rights before 20 November 2015 would not have been legally required to comply with the 2015 Financial Provision Regulations for over six years since their publication.
• The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) argues that the proposed extension is irregular because no explanatory memoranda or reasons were provided for the repeated extensions of the transitional periods. CER further asserts that the 2015 Financial Provision Regulations under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) are more stringent than the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) regime used during the transitional period.
• CER reports that the current transitional period allows for inadequately assessed and inappropriately approved financial provision, as well as failures by authorities to collect funds from mining companies. This situation risks mine abandonment and failed environmental rehabilitation, exposing the state and mining-affected communities to environmental degradation and violations of NEMA and section 24 of the Constitution.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2021). Comment on proposed amendment to transitional provisions in the regulations pertaining to Financial Provisioning for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations. https://cer.org.za/programmes/mining/submissions/regulations/financial-provisioning-regulations/transitional-regulations-pertaining-to-financial-provisioning-for-the-rehabilitation-and-remediation-of-environmental-damage-caused-by-reconnaissance-prospecting-exploration-mining-or-production-opera

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Comment on proposed amendment to transitional provisions in the regulations pertaining to Financial Provisioning for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations. 2021. https://cer.org.za/programmes/mining/submissions/regulations/financial-provisioning-regulations/transitional-regulations-pertaining-to-financial-provisioning-for-the-rehabilitation-and-remediation-of-environmental-damage-caused-by-reconnaissance-prospecting-exploration-mining-or-production-opera.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Comment on proposed amendment to transitional provisions in the regulations pertaining to Financial Provisioning for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations |date=21 May 2021 |url=https://cer.org.za/programmes/mining/submissions/regulations/financial-provisioning-regulations/transitional-regulations-pertaining-to-financial-provisioning-for-the-rehabilitation-and-remediation-of-environmental-damage-caused-by-reconnaissance-prospecting-exploration-mining-or-production-opera |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2021comment, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Comment on proposed amendment to transitional provisions in the regulations pertaining to Financial Provisioning for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://cer.org.za/programmes/mining/submissions/regulations/financial-provisioning-regulations/transitional-regulations-pertaining-to-financial-provisioning-for-the-rehabilitation-and-remediation-of-environmental-damage-caused-by-reconnaissance-prospecting-exploration-mining-or-production-opera}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }