07 May 2021

Members of the public are invited to comment on the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s intention to extend the transitional arrangements contained in the Financial Provisioning Regulations, 2015, for mining right holders who obtained their rights before the 20 November 2015, for an additional 12 months.

The Financial Provisioning Regulations, regulate the manner in which holders and applicants of various types of mining rights and permits must provide funds for the rehabilitation and remediation of environmental damage caused from mining activities at closure and post closure.

Interested and affected parties are invited to submit comment and/or inputs by 22 May to the following address:

By post to:

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
Director-General
Attention: Dr Dee Fischer
Private Bag X447
Pretoria
0001

By hand at:

Environment House
473 Steve Biko Rd
Arcadia
Pretoria

Please note that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering comments by hand at the department is discouraged, and anyone entering the department’s buildings will be subjected to Covid-19 procedures.

By email to: dfischer@environment.gov.za

Any inquiries in connection with the notice can be directed to:
Dr Dee Fischer
E-mail: dfischer@environment.gov.za

A copy of the Government Notice can be accessed through the following link: National Environmental Management Act (107/1998): Amendment to Financial Provisioning Regulations, 2015, as amended [G 44477 – GoN 371]

Comments received after the closing date will not be considered.

For media inquiries contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871

Editor’s note:

The Financial Provisioning Regulations were published in terms of the National Environmental Management Act 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA), on November 2015, in line with the “One Environmental System”, under which all environmental matters pertaining to mining are be regulated in terms of the environmental legislation, and implemented by the Minster responsible for mineral resources.

As part of the “One Environmental System”, the requirements for financial provisioning for rehabilitation in the mining sector were transferred from the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002) to NEMA through the Financial Provisioning Regulations, as of November 2015.

The purpose of the Regulations is to make financial provision for costs associated with the remediation and rehabilitation of environmental impacts associated with mining activities.