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Mining minister wants BEE tussle settled

Cape Town - The government wants the black economic empowerment legal battle settled outside the courts to end uncertainty over the policy meant to spread economic wealth to the black majority, the mining minister said on Monday

Empowerment goals set by the mining charter a more than a decade ago to redress the absence of South Africans excluded from the mining industry required that black partners own 26% of companies by 2014.

Data from the Department of Mineral Resources, published in May, showed that the mining industry had failed to meet those targets. This was challenged by the Chamber of Mines, which took the government to court.

"We believe that they will withdraw and give the process a chance to unfold out of court," Mosebenzi Zwane, the Minister of Mineral Resources, told a media briefing.

Regulatory uncertainty is a key concern for miners in SA with its struggling economy, which has been hard hit by job cuts due to weakening global commodities prices for its platinum, gold, iron ore and coal exports.

ALSO READ:  Zwane: Regulatory certainty top priority for mining

The government wants to enforce a requirement that 26% of all mining companies be in black hands by 2014.

The state disqualified any transactions where black owners had sold out their shares in the companies, taking down the average empowerment level to 20%.

The Chamber of Mines, however, argues that once a company has sold 26% of its stake it had already met the empowerment principle even if shareholders subsequently sold of their stake.

"We have taken a stance as government about working together with the primary right holders. Let's deal with this matter out of court. It is in the interest of all parties," Zwane said.

The Chamber of Mines said that it preferred to reach a "negotiated settlement", but for now the court case was continuing.

"The application has not and will not be withdrawn until we reach a negotiated settlement," Charmane Russell, a spokesperson for the chamber, told Reuters.

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