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South Africa’s mining minister on Tuesday accused Sibanye-Stillwater of violating regulations on black property targets at its gold operations and said the miner had stolen its compliance rating.
To try to rectify the wealth disparities left by the apartheid regime, government regulations require South African companies to ensure that black investors own a portion of their shares.
Businesses are rated based on their level of black ownership.
“Sibanye stole its rating in terms of BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) compliance,” Mining and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe told a mining conference.
In 2013, Gold Fields spun off some of its gold assets into Sibanye Gold, which was renamed Sibanye-Stillwater after diversifying into platinum mining.
Mantashe said Sibanye used the performance credits granted to Gold Fields when Mvelaphanda Resources, a firm owned by black investors, acquired a stake in its subsidiary.
It was not appropriate for Sibanye to use the “empowerment transaction” between Mvelaphanda Resources and Gold Fields as his own, he said.
Sibanye-Stillwater spokesman James Wellsted said the empowerment credits were transferred to them because Gold Fields placed some gold mines in a subsidiary company that had the empowerment rating and later became Sibanye Gold.
“We are very confident in our position,” Wellsted said, adding that the company was committed to the mining department.
Mining companies have repeatedly said that they should not be forced to maintain a level of compliance if black investors sell any of their shares.
In August, the Mines Ministry withdrew an appeal after a court ruling that mining companies did not have to hold at least 26% of black property, a level set in the previous mining charter, in perpetuity.
However, the Council of Minerals, which represents mining companies, is seeking a judicial review of the clauses related to past ownership in the 2018 mining charter, which raised the level of black ownership to 30%.
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