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Government’s proposed solution for illegal mining could have the unintended effect of making unlawful operations harder to detect if new artisanal and small-scale mining permits are introduced without a corresponding expansion in regulatory and law-enforcement capacity. This is one of AfriForum’s central concerns in its comments on the General (Mining) Laws Amendment Bill, 2026.

The Bill proposes penalties of up to R100 million or 30 years’ imprisonment for certain illegal mining offences, criminalises assistance to illegal miners and strengthens enforcement powers. These reforms are necessary, but they will not succeed if the government cannot effectively monitor what happens on the ground.

According to Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s Advisor for Environmental Affairs, the risk becomes particularly acute when the 2026 Bill is read together with the unfinished Mineral Resources Development Bill published in 2025. That Bill proposes a new framework to formalise artisanal and small-scale mining. The 2026 Bill already incorporates those proposed permit categories into the legal boundary between authorised and illegal mining.

AfriForum warns that this could create what it describes as “regulatory camouflage”. A valid permit may give an operation an outward appearance of legality while mining expands beyond the authorised area, unauthorised minerals or methods are used, or illegally extracted minerals are channelled into the legitimate market.

“The regulatory framework is only as effective as the authorities responsible for enforcing it. A 30-year sentence means very little if unlawful activity is unlikely to be detected in the first place. If the government substantially increases the number of formalised mining operations without simultaneously increasing its capacity to inspect and regulate them, criminal syndicates may simply gain more opportunities to hide illegal activity behind lawful permits,” explains De Vaal.

AfriForum also warns against the uncertainty created by two unfinished Bills proposing overlapping amendments to the same provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 van 2002. The 2026 Bill depends on permit categories that originate in the separate 2025 Bill, while the two Bills also propose different amendments to several of the same enforcement provisions.

The organisation further objects to linking the illegal-mining enforcement reforms to an unfinished 2025 framework that provides for race-based designation of certain artisanal and small-scale mining areas and expands Ministerial discretion.

AfriForum has submitted its detailed comments calling for the core illegal-mining reforms to be consolidated into a coherent legislative framework and for artisanal and small-scale mining formalisation to proceed only once adequate cadastral, inspection, traceability and enforcement capacity is in place.

“Stronger criminal penalties can improve the government’s enforcement tools, but they cannot substitute for functioning institutions. Without the people, systems and resources to enforce the law, government risks claiming victory on paper while illegal mining becomes better disguised on the ground,” concludes De Vaal.

Issued by AfriForum