South Africa rules out mining tax

South Africa's mines minister has ruled a new mining tax in that nation, pointing to the political strife generated by a similar proposal in Australia.

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South Africa's Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, told the Paydirt Africa Down Under conference in Perth on Wednesday that her government would not follow Australia's lead.

"What happened here, we never even thought about it," Ms Shabangu told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

"We knew there was going to be big trouble, so we're not in any way thinking in that particular direction.

"We have our own challenges but definitely on the issue of taxation, we look at that in the context of the economy of the country and what are the implications if we have to impose any particular tariff on the mining sector."

Ms Shabangu said reforms to South Africa's mining sector in 2001 had a dramatic negative affect on the industry, literally overnight.

"So we're very careful in how we move forward."

South Africa is overhauling all aspects of its mining act to address gaps in the legislation.

This includes halving from 12 months to six months the approval time for mining licences, and from six months to three for prospecting licences.




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Source: AFP

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