By: OrePulse

Sibanye-Stillwater said it will proceed with its 6-billion-rand Burnstone gold project in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, despite uncertainty over how pending amendments to national mining legislation could affect the project's empowerment status when its current mining right expires in about two years.

Chief executive officer Richard Stewart said the company has committed capital to the project, but that proposed amendments to South Africa's Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act could require Sibanye to re-meet Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) ownership requirements when the mining right comes up for renewal, a change he said could significantly affect the project's economics.

The amendments, gazetted in Parliament in May 2025, would appear to set aside a 2021 High Court ruling that allowed companies meeting empowerment targets to retain that status indefinitely once achieved. Under the proposed changes, South Africa's mineral resources minister would be able to issue new regulations governing empowerment status under the country's Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice.

At a mining industry conference, an official from South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said the amendment bill is now before the National Economic Development and Labour Council, and that the parties involved agree on "almost everything."

Burnstone is planned to produce about 130,000 ounces of gold a year at steady state over a mine life of about 25 years, under a capital plan of 3.5 billion rand spread over six years. A processing plant is expected to begin operating in 2029. Sibanye's gold division output fell to 632,341 ounces in 2025, down from just over 1 million ounces in 2021.