SA govt, mining industry tensions dominate Indaba

Cape Town - South Africa has advertised it is "open for business" at the world's largest annual mining conference, but industry players worry regulatory confusion could prevent the country from cashing in on the bull years that may lie ahead.

After Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane told the Mining Indaba in Cape Town that rising commodity prices marked the start of "a new spring", Neal Froneman, chief executive of Sibanye Gold, said that "the investment appetite is very negative".

Analysts and miners have decried a regulatory environment that they say has hit investment and forced industry and government to slug it out in court.