South Africa’s delayed mining cadastral poses short-term risks

Mark Thomas and Christopher Majuru of Pinsent Masons were commenting following reports that the much-anticipated launch of a new digital cadastral system by South Africa’s Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) has been delayed once again.

Initially expected to launch in June 2025 following a phased roll-out in the Western Cape, the new online portal was rescheduled to be fully operational by the end of July. However, during a budget vote speech in Parliament on 2 July, Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources minister, announced there would be a further three-month delay to bringing the cadastral online in the Western Cape.

The new system will enable real-time access to geospatial data, including mining titles, environmental overlays and infrastructure corridors.

It will replace the previous South African Minerals Resources Administration System (SAMRAD), which launched in 2011, but failed to provide investors with sufficient transparency and regulatory certainty, as well as being plagued by delays and allegations that it was vulnerable to corruption.

Built on the National Spatial Information Framework (NSIF) and managed by National Geo-spatial Information (NGI), with integration into DMRE’s mineral rights registry, the new system is expected to support faster licensing, improved compliance monitoring and enhanced investment certainty.

Once the new cadastral is fully operational, SAMRAD will be switched off in each region and all new applications will need to be submitted via the new platform. During his budget speech, Minister Mantashe said he expects the overall project timeline “will not be significantly impacted” by the further delay. He said the government’s experience of rolling out the new system in the Western Cape “will be applied in other provinces.”   

Mark Thomas, a corporate litigator and regulatory advisor at Pinsent Masons, said the new system marked a pivotal step in modernising South Africa’s mining regulatory landscape. “The modernised cadastral system will be a game-changer for mining clients – bringing clarity to land rights, accelerating permitting, and reducing disputes over overlapping claims,” he said. “Whilst the delay introduces short-term uncertainty, it also provides an opportunity for stakeholders to enhance legal and technical readiness.”

The lack of a properly functioning cadastral system has been blamed for the country’s significant backlog in mining applications.

Christopher Majuru, a corporate litigator with a particular interest in mining disputes at Pinsent Masons, said the new system, once implemented, would offer “a more predictable and efficient framework for securing and managing mineral rights.”

Despite the delays, Majuru said the DMPR’s ongoing roll-out highlighted its commitment to prioritising digital transformation and regulatory efficiency in the country’s mining industry. "By aligning cadastral data with mineral rights, the DMPR is creating a more transparent and investor-friendly environment which is especially critical for junior miners and exploration companies,” he said.

The DMPR has also linked this initiative to its broader strategy of promoting investment, transformation, and environmental sustainability across the industry.