South Africa's government knew its Australian counterpart was headed for trouble when the controversial mining super profits tax was announced in May, the nation's mines minister said today.
Speaking to reporters at the Africa Downunder conference in Perth, South African minister of mineral resources Susan Shabangu said South Africa had learnt the lesson from its own painful efforts to reform the mining industry and would not be following in Australia's footsteps.
"What happened here, when it happened, we knew there was going to be big trouble," Ms Shabangu said. "So we are not in any way thinking in that particular direction."
Ms Shabangu said South Africa had suffered great upheaval when it introduced sweeping reforms of its mining regulations in 2001, saying $50 billion was wiped off the value of its mining industry "overnight".
"We've burnt our fingers, so we are very careful in how we move forward, definitely," she said.
"We have our own challenges, but the issue of taxation, we look at it in the context of the economy of the country, and what are the implications if we have to impose a new particular tariff in the mining sector."
Ms Shabangu's comments come as the South African government undertakes a wide-ranging review of its mining act to address flaws in the regulatory framework. She said legislation was expected to be put to the South African parliament early next year.
While the Australian tax initiative was unveiled without warning or industry input, the South African review process includes extensive industry consultation prior to any recommendations being finalised.
Industry has also been involved in identifying areas needing attention, such as the proposed halving of the approval period for mining lease applications to six months.
