Report of the Ad hoc Expert Group Meeting

Harmonization of National Mining Policies in the SADC subregion
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Southern Africa Office (UNECA-SA) has been working with the SADC Secretariat to implement the SADC Mining Protocol. The work is part of a multi-year programme to harmonize mining policies in the SADC subregion and is based on the Framework for the Harmonization of National Mining Policies, Standards and Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks, which was approved by SADC Mining Ministers at the meeting held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in March 2006.
Report of the Ad hoc Expert Group Meeting

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Southern Africa Office (UNECA-SA) has been working with the SADC Secretariat to implement the SADC Mining Protocol. The work is part of a multi-year programme to harmonize mining policies in the SADC subregion and is based on the Framework for the Harmonization of National Mining Policies, Standards and Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks, which was approved by SADC Mining Ministers at the meeting held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in March 2006. The latest phase of work on the harmonization programme has been a Study to compare the provisions of the different national mining policies (NMPs) of SADC countries with the Harmonization Framework.

This report presents the outcome of the Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting (AEGM) which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 4 and 5 may 2009, to review the draft report on the Harmonization of NMPs in the SADC subregion. The meeting was organized by UNECA-SA in collaboration with the SADC Secretariat. Representatives of the private sector and senior officials of mining ministries from twelve SADC States attended the meeting, in addition to representatives of MINTEK and the Johannesburg office of Natural Resources Canada, who attended the meeting as observers. The meeting also reviewed an issues paper entitled “Impact of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis on the SADC Mining Sector”, which was prepared at the request of SADC, following the difficulties encountered by the subregional mining sector as a result of the global economic crisis.