Minerals and Petroleum Minister Gwede Mantashe announced delays in the rollout of South Africa's mining cadastre due to data issues during the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The system, essential for processing mining permits and enhancing transparency, remains stalled despite industry calls for urgency. Officials cited challenges in digitizing legacy paper records as a key obstacle.
At the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Minerals and Petroleum Minister Gwede Mantashe addressed the persistent delays in launching South Africa's digital mining cadastre. In his opening remarks, Mantashe attributed the hold-up to 'data issues,' a point echoed by Director-General Jacob Mbele during a press conference. Mbele explained, 'The integrity of a cadastral system is actually the underlying data. For various reasons we are finding that there were issues with some of the data.'
The cadastre is seen as vital for clearing backlogs in mining and exploration permit applications, preventing 'double pegging'—where multiple claims are filed on the same land—and promoting transparency to combat corruption allegations in permitting processes. Reports of 'mountains of paper' scattered in regional offices, such as in Mpumalanga, highlight the digitization challenges.
Progress has been made in the Western Cape, where a map viewer has been launched to display mining rights, offering 'first level of transparency,' according to Mbele. However, Daily Maverick's checks indicate the data was last updated in 2022. Mantashe noted that from February 2025 to January 2026, the department granted 358 prospecting rights and 32 mining rights, but provided no figures on applications or the backlog size.
Industry leaders expressed frustration. Paul Dunne, CEO of Northam Platinum and president of the Minerals Council, urged that the process be 'expedited' as a matter of urgency. Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane highlighted declining exploration spending, which fell to R781-million in 2024 from a peak of R6.2-billion in 2006, per Stats SA data, underscoring the cadastre's role in attracting investment.
Despite the delays, positive developments include a recent Memorandum of Understanding between the Council for Geoscience and BHP to advance geoscientific research, potentially boosting exploration in under-explored areas like the Northern Cape's copper prospects.