Acts Online
GT Shield

National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)

Chapter 5 : Integrated Environmental Management

24PA. Financial provision for mining

 

(a) maintain and retain a financial provision until a closure certificate is issued by the Minister responsible for mineral resources in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002;
(b) review and adjust the environmental liability, as prescribed;
(c) at the intervals as prescribed, subject the financial provision and the basis of the calculations to an independent audit;
(d) at the intervals as prescribed, submit to the Minister responsible for mineral resources an audit report;
(e) publish, at the intervals as prescribed, the review decision in a provincial newspaper as well as a newspaper distributed within the municipal area within which the mining operation is located, and indicate where the review can be obtained; and
(f) annually undertake the mitigation and rehabilitation measures, as prescribed.

 

(2) The Minister responsible for mineral resources may, in consultation with the Minister and Minister responsible for water affairs, approve an annual drawdown of the financial provision in the prescribed manner to support final decommissioning and closure for a period not exceeding 10 years before the final decommissioning and closure.

 

(3) The financial provision provided in respect of latent environmental impacts or residual environmental impacts, including the pumping and treatment of extraneous and polluted water, must be transferred to the Minister responsible for mineral resources upon the issuing of a closure certificate, unless otherwise prescribed.

 

(4) Where the financial provisioning vehicle used for the financial provision in respect of latent environmental impacts or residual environ-mental impacts, including the pumping and treatment of extraneous and polluted water, is insurance, the Minister responsible for mineral resources must access the funds on issuing the closure certificate.

 

(5) If any person contemplated in subsection (1) fails to mitigate and rehabilitate environmental impacts, as prescribed, the Minister responsible for mineral resources or the Minister responsible for water affairs may, upon written notice to such person, use all or part of the financial provision contemplated in this section to rehabilitate or manage the environmental impact in question.

 

[Section 24PA inserted by section 9 of the National Environmental Laws Amendment Act, 2022, GG46602, dated 24 June 2022: Commencement by Proclamation 125 of 2023, GG48869, dated 30 June 2023]