Water and Policy Certainty are key – Minerals Council
The Minerals Council South Africa has delivered a stark reminder that geological endowment alone is no longer enough to attract and retain investment. Presenting its 2025 Integrated Annual Review and Annual Financial Statements at its 136th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Johannesburg on 27 May 2026, the Council called for urgent, synchronized interventions to secure the sector’s future growth. While energy and logistical reforms dominate public discourse, the Council’s leadership pushed two critical issues to the top of the national economic agenda: escalating water security risks and the absolute necessity for pragmatic policy certainty.
The Minerals Council’s members represent a formidable economic force, accounting for 90% of South Africa’s annual mined production by value. The newly released review highlights that despite operating in a highly volatile domestic and international environment, mining remains the undisputed backbone of the national economy. In 2025, the sector employed 470,457 people, paid out R200 billion in wages, and contributed R124 billion in taxes to the fiscus. Mining exports alone generated R816 billion in vital foreign earnings, reinforcing the sector’s massive contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) at 6.2%.
However, industry leaders warn that sustaining these numbers—and unlocking further economic wealth and social prosperity—is entirely dependent on resolving critical structural constraints.
The emerging threat of Water Insecurity
While mining companies have moved swiftly to build out self-generation renewable energy projects to stabilize the power grid, water security has emerged as a sudden and urgent operational risk demanding immediate national attention.
During 2025, several key mining regions suffered severe disruptions to bulk water supplies, exposing massive structural vulnerabilities within regional and municipal infrastructure systems. Because water is an irreplaceable component for both industrial processing and the basic survival of surrounding host communities, bulk infrastructure failures threaten to derail entire operations.
“Water is essential to both communities and operations, and strengthening maintenance capacity, governance and investment in water infrastructure must become a national priority,” stated Minerals Council President Paul Dunne.
To build resilience against these municipal shortfalls, the Council has been pioneering regional water infrastructure partnership programs in provinces like Limpopo and the Northern Cape. However, to expedite these capital-intensive projects and safeguard supply, the industry is calling for more constructive, fast-tracked partnerships with regional water boards and the Department of Water and Sanitation.
A definitive sea change in Policy Certainty
Compounding these physical infrastructure risks is a critical legislative turning point. The South African mining sector is currently navigating what leadership describes as one of its most pivotal policy moments in decades, as the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) undertakes a fundamental revision of the 22-year-old Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).
The industry is strongly advocating for a legislative framework that encourages and sustains long-term global investment in exploration and new mine development, rather than introducing further compliance hurdles. The Council emphasized the urgent need for a “one-stop shop” for mineral rights applications to seamlessly coordinate and align regulations across varying government departments, thereby stripping away costly bureaucratic delays.
Furthermore, leaders stressed that a globally competitive mineral rights regime must be anchored by an efficient, transparent, and completely modernized digital mining cadastre to eliminate human interference and make geological information accessible from anywhere in the world.
While the Council characterized its recent consultations with the DMPR regarding the draft Mineral Resources Development Bill as highly constructive, Paul Dunne cautioned against a return to past regulatory friction that has historically damaged investor sentiment and landlocked capital.
“The negative impact of the prolonged regulatory uncertainty that those proposed amendments caused for the mining sector must not be understated,” Dunne urged. “A repetition of drawn-out wrangling, because of an ill-considered Amendment Bill, which does not reflect our engagements with the DMPR, must be avoided at all costs.”
Unlocking the multiplier effect
The Minerals Council’s message to policymakers and trade stakeholders is clear: a stagnant mining sector stunts broader industrial development. Conversely, a thriving mining industry acts as a massive economic multiplier; statistics show that every direct mining job supports ten additional livelihoods across the mineral value chain and ancillary industries, meaning more than 4.7 million South Africans rely on the health of the sector.
Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane emphasized that structured, trusting partnerships between the state, state-owned entities, and private investors are the only way to transform capital availability into operational projects.
“With disciplined policy reform, modernisation and partnerships, mining can anchor and elevate South Africa’s economic development, industrial capability, and social progress for decades to come,” Mthenjane concluded.
For South Africa to truly capitalize on its vast mineral wealth in 2026 and beyond, the state must move beyond the baseline of logistics and electricity reforms. Securing reliable bulk water infrastructure and codifying an honest, efficient, and predictable policy environment are the true catalysts needed to restore the nation’s global competitive edge.
What are your thoughts on the emerging water security risks facing South Africa’s industrial sectors? How can government and private enterprises better collaborate to ensure long-term policy certainty for investors?
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