BEE codes of good practice, Department of Trade and Industry codes and charters for different sectors.
The Mining Charter is but one example of multiple legislative issues that need to be complied with regards the companies responsibility to supply adequate nutrition to the workforce. The necessity of providing either the DMR or Department of Labour your Operational Mandatory Code of Practice, specifying what your plans are regards Mandatory Code of Practice for Risk Based Fatigue Management.
Nutrition is critical, as witness the fact that the first question posed by authorities in investigating incidents and accidents is "when did the individual involved last have a meal?
Scorecard for the broad based Socio-Economic empowerment Charter for the South African Mining Industry.
The proposed scorecard gives effect to the provisions contained in the Broad Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the Mining and Minerals Industry.
The scorecard is designed to facilitate the application of the Charter in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act requirements for the conversion of all the "old order rights" into new rights within a five-year conversion window period, but recognising the full 10-year period.
In adjudicating the scorecard the Minister of Minerals and Energy will need to take into account the entire scorecard in decision making.
The scorecard is intended to reflect the "spirit" of the Broad-based SocioEconomic Empowerment Charter for the Mining Industry.
• The specific targets set in the Charter.
• The targets set by companies.
BEE is an important aspect for any company nowadays. It's a business imperative because the better empowered you are, the better you can compete in the market.
The commitment of the mining companies is to have offered each employee the opportunity to become functionally literate and numerate. The critical test is if a human resource development system has been established and resourced so that people are being trained.
The aspirational target for HDSA participation in management is a 5-year target. If companies want to convert to licenses within a much shorter time frame, then a phase in approach will be adopted with the companies committing to a 40 percent by the fifth year. The key decision point here is whether the company has established a plan to achieve the target and is implementing the plan.
The aspirational target for women participation in mining is a five-year target and the phase in approach will be used. The key decision point here is whether the company has established a plan to achieve the target and is implementing the plan.
The commitment of stakeholders to ensure non-discrimination against foreign migrant labour can be approached from the perspective that each company subscribes to industry and government agreements on the matter.
In terms of companies establishing measures for improving the standard of housing – the company will be required to indicate what it has done to improve housing and show a plan to progress the issue over time and are implementing the plan.
In terms of companies establishing measures for improving the standard of nutrition – the company will be required to indicate what it has done to improve nutrition and show a plan to progress the issue over time and are implementing the plan.
In terms of procurement the mining company should commit to an increase of procurement from HDSA companies over the 3-5 year time frame and agree to a monitoring system.
The Scorecard represents the 5-year targets and it has been agreed that within 10-years the level of HDSA participation will rise to 26 percent.
In terms of beneficiation commitments and the offset option the key issue is to capture the actual beneficiaton activities of a company and to convert it to the same unit of measurement of ownership e.g. attributable units of production / or % measure of value as the case may be and offset accordingly. The attributable ounces that are beneficiated above the base state may be offset against HDSA ownership targets. Considering that some 59 different minerals are mined in South Africa – the detailed discussions on the base state for each mineral are ongoing.