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South Africa needs to see far more harnessing of the capital of the private sector, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane told the Junior Indaba on Tuesday.

Regarding the absolutely essential but extremely long-awaited South African cadastral system required for exploration, Mthenjane reiterated the Minerals Council's advocacy of enlisting the private sector to assist with the introduction of a cadastre.

"Now, many other issues have emerged where I think there's a need to bring in the private sector to try and overcome these and to demonstrate a sense of urgency," Mthenjane commented at the event chaired by Bernard Swanepoel. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Also taking part in the panel discussion and covered by Mining Weekly were ENS head of natural Resources and environment practice Ntsiki Adonisi, who moderated, Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) director-general Jacob Mbele, Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza, and NSDV director Lili Nupen.

In an update on the introduction of the absolutely essential but extremely long-awaited South African cadastral system, DMPR deputy director general Tseliso Maqubela confessed that the department was again at risk of repeating what had taken place on 1 October 2013, which is now a business school case study on how not to roll out a project.

Revealed is that the new cadastre is going to be regionally implemented. "There won't be one roll out nationwide," Maqubela disclosed.

"We've decided that we'll start with the Western Cape. We're still targeting completion in June 2025, as we had committed," said Maqubela, on the grounds that the Western Cape is a manageable jurisdiction with the highest number of operational mines and zero backlog.

"So, we'll be we'll be able to test the efficacy of the system using that jurisdiction. It also doesn't have an appreciable backlog. There's no backlog in Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State, so we chose those deliberately.

"There are also a limited number of appeals that are outstanding in the Western Cape, which will soon be followed by Eastern Cape, and then all the other regions will follow after that.

"We know that there are regions with complexity that we're going to have to deal with, and we don't want any comebacks, so currently we're doing data migration, particularly for the region where we're going to start validation of that data, making sure that it is audited.

"Come the first of July, you won't be able to use Samrad to apply in the Western Cape, you will have to apply using the new cadastral system.

"One key feature is that we've introduced what is called a grid, and when you click on the grid and you say, I want to apply here, it will either give you a red that means you can't apply there, or it will give you a yellow to say that you need to have some conversations with people because you may be encroaching, and then the green will allow you to submit your application.

"The size of the of the grid is going to be a hectare, so you can expand the grid as much as you want, so what I can say is that we're on track to deliver a robust, transparent and efficient, cadastral system.

"We are resolving challenges as they emerge and when we launch, we'd like to get feedback so that we can make the necessary adjustment," Maqubela added.

In a video played to provide an overview of what was described as the new South Africa mining licensing system, logging in came with a personal dashboard, and the steps involved in the application process were indicated at the top of what was described as the application page.

Drawing attention to South Africa's 40% unemployment rate, Mthenjane pointed out that South Africa's mining industry has the capacity to a huge role in alleviating this country's w...