2025-05-23
South African Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe recently announced that the “Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy” has been formally approved, and the draft Mineral Resources Development Bill 2025 has been released for public comments.
The strategy aims to unleash South Africa’s potential in the global mineral market by enhancing policy certainty and regulatory clarity. The strategy evaluates 21 minerals based on eight indicators, including export potential, employment impact and supply risk. Platinum, manganese, iron ore, coal and tantalum are classified as highly critical minerals, while gold, palladium, rhodium and rare earths are classified as medium and high critical minerals.
At the same time, the Minerals Act is committed to improving governance by simplifying the licensing process, better linking with environmental and water regulations, and introducing a licensing system for small-scale and artisanal mining. The government hopes that this move will combat illegal mining and support the legal development of junior mining companies.
