JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa will launch its online mineral rights application system next week, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has announced.

From Monday, all applications for prospecting rights, mining permits and mining rights will have to be submitted in electronic format through the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) website.

The South African Mineral Resources Administration (Samrad) system was meant to be implemented at the end of March, but was delayed to allow more time for final test runs.

The DMR said the new system would make the application process more transparent because access to information on the processing of applications would be available and that it would seek to reduce turnaround times for finalising applications.

The online system would make information available about areas applied for, granted, and still available for prospecting and mining right and permit applications.

Shabangu imposed a moratorium on new mineral right applications in September, which would be lifted with the launch of the new system.