How do I get a mining right or mining permit in South Africa?

Two routes: mining permit or mining right

The MPRDA gives you two lawful ways to extract minerals. Section 27 creates the mining permit, a small-scale route limited to an area of 5 hectares or less where the resource can be mined optimally within two years. Section 22 creates the mining right, the route for everything else, valid for up to 30 years and renewable.

Both routes require the applicant to hold or apply concurrently for the necessary environmental authorisation, and both require proof that the applicant has the financial and technical capability to conduct the mining operation as proposed. The permit is a lighter file, but it is not an informal one.

Lodging through SAMRAD

Applications for mining rights and mining permits are lodged electronically through the South African Mineral Resources Administration system, known as SAMRAD. The system also shows which areas are already subject to a prospecting right, mining right or pending application, which is essential to check before you commit resources to a bid.

A cadastral and conflict check against SAMRAD before lodgement is the single most cost-effective step in the whole process. Lodging over an area that is already encumbered wastes the application fee and months of turnaround time.

What a mining right application needs

A section 22 mining right application must include a mining work programme setting out how the resource will be extracted, a social and labour plan addressing human resource development and local economic development, financial provision for rehabilitation and mine closure, and evidence of consultation with landowners, occupiers and affected communities.

Environmental authorisation is processed by the mineral resources regulator under section 24C(2A) of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998, on the same timeline as the mining application rather than as a separate track. Water use authorisation under the National Water Act 36 of 1998 is triggered where dewatering, abstraction or watercourse impacts are involved, and is usually scoped alongside the mining application.

A mining permit under section 27 needs the same environmental authorisation and financial and technical capability, but the mining work programme and social and labour plan are proportionately lighter given the smaller area and shorter duration.

Realistic timelines

A mining permit typically takes 8 to 14 months to grant where the file is complete on lodgement. A mining right typically takes 14 to 24 months where the resource statement, work programme and environmental authorisation are ready in advance, and 18 to 30 months where that groundwork still has to be built.

Rounds of requests for further information are the most common cause of delay, and they are almost always the result of lodging before the supporting file is genuinely ready.

Duration and renewal

A mining permit runs for two years and may be renewed three times, one year at a time, for a maximum of five years. A mining right runs for up to 30 years and is renewable for further periods not exceeding 30 years at a time, on application before expiry under section 24 of the MPRDA.

Fees

Our fixed fee for a full mining right mandate starts from R225,000, rising for large, multi-property or contested applications, with government application fees included. Mining permit mandates are generally lower given the smaller scope. Specialist environmental and water studies are quoted separately and agreed before work starts.