October 6, 2017//-Investors say they are finding other African countries like Ghana, Rwanda and Botswana more attractive for mining investment rather than South Africa.

Investors attending the two day Jo’burb Indaba mining conference say South Africa’s increasingly tough regulatory environment is forcing them to look elsewhere.

Partner and Africa Co-chair of Herbert Smith Freehills, Peter Leon says Botswana remains a leading mining destination for investors because of the attractive regulatory environment, while Ghana has created an independent minerals committee to reduce corruption in its mining industry.

He says: “Their focus was on removing administrative discretion as far as possible from the law that’s the one thing that Botswana did.”

“So there is no discretion in the granting of licenses, the second thing is that if a license is compliant you basically get it in six weeks compared to South Africa where it takes a section 11 consent,” adds Leon.

This means that any licensing issues in SA have to go to the minister for consent and this may take a while.

SABC