Briefings by Mintek, Council for Geoscience, State Diamond Trader, South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator and CEF Group on their Annual Reports for 2023/24 financial year; with Deputy Minister

Video SA State Diamond and Precious Minerals Regulator Central Energy Fund The Committee met to receive presentations from the following entities of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources: Mintek, Council for Geoscience, State Diamond Trader, South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator and CEF Group on their annual reports for the 2023/2024 financial year. [The entities are included in the 2023/24 audit of the Department of Minerals and Energy, which will be formally divided into two departments – one dealing with mining issues and one with energy issues - only from 1 March 2025. See the PMG report on the findings of the Auditor-General for the portfolio as a whole at https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/39631/] The Committee was generally pleased with Mintek’s organisational and financial performance for 2023/2024, and applauded it especially for achieving a clean audit. The Committee asked why the Department has not lobbied other departments, particularly that of health, to procure the HIV rapid diagnostic testing kit developed by Mintek. Why did the Department not assign Mintek the task of purifying water used by mines so that the resultant clean water could then be redirected to citizens for their consumption?   The Council for Geoscience achieved 91% of its targets and attained an unqualified audit for the third consecutive year. The Committee asked for an update on the integrated multidisciplinary geoscience mapping plan, which was adopted in 2017/18. Had South Africa managed to be a beneficiary of 5% of the total global expenditure on exploration? What did the Council mean when it said a piloting and empowering provision in the Geoscience Act would enable it to undertake exploration? The State Diamond Trader achieved a clean audit but it recorded a 42% overall performance achievement due to the depressed diamond market. Some of the Members expressed the view that the company, and the country, would be better served mostly using diamonds for industrial purposes rather than for making jewellery, as it was more financially sustainable in the long-term. Had there been a turnaround in the first quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year in the diamond market as predicted by the Trader? What plans are in place to facilitate the growth of small-scale diamond producers in the market? The South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator achieved a clean audit and an overall performance achievement of 95%. The Committee asked why South Africa was importing diamonds from the United Arab Emirates. Why had the Regulator’s diamond licensing fees not been increased for ten years, especially considering that it has been experiencing financial losses? There was confusion around why the Department had issued a directive to the Regulator in October 2023 to cancel the submission of the board's internal assessment for the 2023/2024 financial year. The Committee requested that this matter be clarified. Did the Regulator believe NT was dragging its feet in processing the proposal to reduce the VAT on diamond imports, as it has been going on for years? The CEF Group and four of its entities all achieved an unqualified audit with findings in 2023/2024. This was an improvement for the CEF Group which obtained a qualified audit the previous year and for one which obtained a disclaimer. Three CEF entities achieved a clean audit. The Committee asked if PetroSA still had enough cash to pay salaries going forward given that its profits from the sale of diesel to Eskom had dropped due to the end of load shedding. Why had PetroSA awarded Gazprombank the tender to restart the mothballed gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay? How did PetroSA, as a state entity, come to receive a level-9 (non-compliant) rating for Black Economic Empowerment? What led to the state mining company incurring R1.8 million in irregular expenditure? Had this since been remedied? Had the South African Agency for Promotion of Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation finalised its feasibility study on shale gas exploration? When would the project begin? Had it consulted all of the relevant stakeholders, and if so, what were the outcomes? Where would water be sourced to use for the fracking, and had using greywater been considered?