Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2014. / After 20 years in existence democratic South Africa is at the crossroads while people lives have changed significantly after 1994, the country has faced increasing levels of unemployment and inequality. Drawing from the Keynesian theory of employment and recent financialization literature, this paper looks at the trends in financial income as a share of profits in the mining sector and how this has affected real investment in the sector and linking with the theory we look at how his behaviour has contributed to the employment levels in the sector. This retrospective look at the mining sector is done in order to pick trends that might give us better insight for policy interventions in the sector in order to create employment opportunities for the population going forward

Discussions and considerations around nationalisation of the mining sector in South became more prevalent from 2009. There are certain implications or consequences related to these discussions, considerations or decisions that should be taken into account. The purpose of this study will be to determine what these consequences may be in a South African context by making inference from historic cases of nationalisation in other countries as well as testing the perceptions of respondents from a gold mine. In order to achieve the purpose of this study the researcher will do an in-depth literature study on the concept, history, consequences and related aspects of nationalisation. The perceived consequences will be tested by doing an empirical study on a sample of a gold mine. An online questionnaire has been distributed to the selected sample. The results have been collected by the researcher and was analysed by the Statistical Consultation Services at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus). Conclusions have been drawn from the analysed data and are reflected in the document. The results from the empirical study confirmed in most cases what the literature study has identified. The conclusions and recommendations have been provided by the researcher after taking into account the results of the literature and empirical study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Discussions and considerations around nationalisation of the mining sector in South became more prevalent from 2009. There are certain implications or consequences related to these discussions, considerations or decisions that should be taken into account. The purpose of this study will be to determine what these consequences may be in a South African context by making inference from historic cases of nationalisation in other countries as well as testing the perceptions of respondents from a gold mine. In order to achieve the purpose of this study the researcher will do an in-depth literature study on the concept, history, consequences and related aspects of nationalisation. The perceived consequences will be tested by doing an empirical study on a sample of a gold mine. An online questionnaire has been distributed to the selected sample. The results have been collected by the researcher and was analysed by the Statistical Consultation Services at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus). Conclusions have been drawn from the analysed data and are reflected in the document. The results from the empirical study confirmed in most cases what the literature study has identified. The conclusions and recommendations have been provided by the researcher after taking into account the results of the literature and empirical study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The main objective of this research is to asses the effectiveness of the channels (collective bargaining and workplace forums) created by the LRA for employee‟s participation in decision making in the mining sector. Problems related to employee participation will be examined to determine whether they are structural or due to shortcomings in the LRA. If it is found that there are shortcomings of the labour legislation in this regard, recommendations on how the shortcoming can be addressed will be made. The significance of this research paper is that it attempts to determine the efficacy of the current statutorily protected channels for employee participation in the mining sector against the backdrop of prevalent theories on employee participation. Although many labour law authors have commented on the role of workplace forums in South Africa, the relative advantages of workplace forums have not been analysed through the lens of the theories on employee participation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between environmental reporting and financial reporting by listed South African mining companies in order to determine the degree of integration between these two processes. Many companies disclose environmental information in their financial report (FR) or in a stand-alone environmental (ER) or sustainability report (SR). However, the environmental information contained in these reports does not always satisfy the information needs of shareholders, analysts and investors. In most cases, it appears as if current ERs do not sufficiently reflect the business implications of environmental issues for companies, hence the lack of interest in such reports among investors and analysts. Although many analyses of ERs and FRs have been performed, there is a lack of evidence regarding the relationship between financial reporting and environmental reporting. In an attempt to address this gap in the literature, this study examined the current practice of relating environmental reporting to financial reporting of selected mining companies. The environmental components of sustainability reports (SRs) and the financial reports (FRs) of six of the largest South African mining companies were examined to assess the relationship between environmental and financial reporting. Forty-six environmental disclosure indicators relating to environmental information with business implications were identified from South African legislation, general accounting standards and best practice guidelines. The reports were examined using the indicators as benchmarks. The nature of disclosure for each indicator was recorded for each report. The level of linkage or integration regarding disclosures for the same indicator between the ER and its associated FR was assessed. Integration scores were determined for the main indicator categories, for individual indicators as well as for each company, based on seven potential levels of integration. The study concluded that, generally speaking, the current link between environmental reporting and financial reporting among the sample companies was very limited. The contribution of this study lies in the identification of a wide range of environmental disclosure indicators from a variety of sources, and the application thereof for assessing the relationship between environmental reporting and financial reporting. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Accounting / Unrestricted

In the early 1950s the study on how to determine true ore-grade distributions in the mining sector, sparked the development of a series of statistical tools that specifically allows for spatial and subsequently spatial-temporal dependence. These statistics are commonly referred to as geostatistics, and has since been incorporated in several fields of study characterized by this dependence. Basic descriptive statistics and mapping tools for geostatistics are defined and illustrated by means of a simulated dataset. The moments are modelled according to predefined conditions and model structures to describe the spatial and spatial-temporal variance in the data. These variograms and covariance structures are subsequently utilized in the least square procedure, namely kriging. At present, kriging is most commonly used in geostatistics for the interpolation and simulation of spatial or spatial-temporal data. The univariate and multivariate spatial and spatial-temporal kriging techniques are tested on the simulated dataset, to demonstrate how interpolation weights are determined according to the lag distances and underlying variance structure. The strength, weaknesses and inherent complexities of the methodologies are highlighted. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Statistics / unrestricted

Since time immemorial extractive industries have been shrouded in secrecy worldwide. This stemmed countries with high levels of corruption and weak administrative systems and vulnerable regulatory frameworks to seldom develop or economically grow from extractive industries revenues. This has led to the identification of transparency as being the evasive factor worldwide to help attract more investments, avoid the resource curse and curb corruption. Malawi is no exception to this trend and has one of the lowly performing and very obscure mining sectors. That though Transparency is a fundamental principle of the Constitution of Malawi; it is not reflected in the Mining laws of Malawi which were enacted before the Constitution. The secrecy that hovers over the activities of the mining sector has provoked various stakeholders to demand their inclusion in the processes of concluding contracts due to lack of visible benefits from existing investments. To avoid difficult forums of stakeholders gathering to make a decision on intended investments to be made, there has been a call to make the mining industry more transparent. This entails the introduction of public scrutiny post-contract making which remains the discretion of the Minister. Attempts to introduce transparency have led to the introduction of Transparency initiatives whose main objective is to ensure transparency is evident in extractive industries such as mining. Malawi is currently deciding whether to adopt one such initiative called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. It is a strong advocate for transparency in extractive sector which is voluntary in nature and mandates the disclosure of revenues collected by government and the companies to report the amounts paid to government. Adoption of EITI is pegged to immensely improve the mining sector through increased FDI inflow. This dissertation argued for Malawi to adopt EITI because it found that the Malawian mining sector is governed by ancient laws which are silent on transparency principles. This thesis found that EITI though is a stepping stone for Malawi, it lacks several crucial factors in its scope and the thesis highlights several shortfalls of the initiative. EITI implores revenue transparency over other forms of transparency. And this research found that Malawi needs contract transparency more than revenue transparency because Malawi’s mining sector is contract-based rather than legislative-based thereby recommending Malawi include contract transparency to the standard EITI scope. It was further concluded that Malawi emulates Liberia by extending their scope to include other extractive sectors like agriculture besides the classified Oil, Gas and Mining. This thesis spurred a debate as to enforcement and compliance of EITI. It was discovered that Malawi is already a member to various international instruments that advocate the transparent means of administering the extractive sector but sadly these are not fully implemented in the mining sector. This is attributable to the fact that Malawi’s laws stipulate that newly adopted international laws or standards do not have binding force until converted into domestic legislation. Consequently, since EITI is termed ‘soft law’ because it lacks enforcement, this study concluded that Malawi needs to enact a domestic law to ensure enforcement. This was drawn from the comparable analysis of Nigeria and Liberia who have enacted EITI legislation to ensure effective implementation. It was drawn from this analysis the need to enact legislation codifying EITI in order to ensure compliance and as a form of enforcement. With the idea of introducing a new EITI law, this thesis found that EITI if adopted will be aligned to Malawi’s international obligations but its principles contrary to domestic laws. This study, nevertheless, concluded these inconsistencies can be ironed by explicitly stating in the EITI code that it is an exception to the general laws such as tax laws which prohibit disclosure of taxes paid to third parties. Based on these findings, this dissertation recommends the improvement of transparency in the mining sector through the adoption of EITI. That Malawi should codify it into domestic legislation to convert its voluntary element into mandatory. That this new law should expressly state EITI as an exception to existing laws which it is inconsistent with. It further recommends Malawi includes agriculture to the standard EITI scope as the administration of which could also help boost the economy of which it heavily contributes to. It also recommends the amendment of the mining laws to reflect transparency principles stipulated in the superior law of the land the constitution, international instruments and core principle of EITI. It points out the importance of government to involve existing extractive companies as the adoption of EITI directly impacts them and therefore consultation is vital. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

Los conflictos ocurridos en la región Cajamarca durante los años 2011 y 2012 pusieron en jaque al gobierno del entonces presidente Ollanta Humala y llamó la atención de todos los medios de comunicación del país. Hubo varios muertos en el proceso en que la minera Yanacocha intentó empezar un nuevo proyecto llamado Conga. Por errores de la minería en el pasado, los pobladores cajamarquinos se mostraron reacios a que un nuevo proyecto minero abra sus puertas y de esa forma ponga en riesgo el recurso hídrico que era tan importante para ellos. En ese sentido, esta investigación planteó analizar el tratamiento noticioso que el diario La República, el medio con una línea política marcada de izquierda, hizo durante estos meses de conflicto que abarcan los años 2011 y 2012. Luego de analizar 35 portadas con sus interiores publicadas durante este periodo se concluyó que no necesariamente este diario se mostró favorable respecto a los manifestantes cajamarquinos por lo que se realizó un tratamiento noticioso más complejo donde se trató de visibilizar a todos los actores involucrados. / The conflicts that occurred in the Cajamarca region during the years 2011 and 2012 put the government of then President Ollanta Humala in check and called the attention of all the media in the country. There were several dead in the process in which the Yanacocha miner tried to start a new project called Conga. Due to mining mistakes in the past, Cajamarquinos residents were reluctant for a new mining project to open its doors and thus put the water resource that was so important to them at risk. In that sense, this research proposed analyzing the news treatment that the newspaper La República, the medium with a political line marked on the left, made during these months of conflict that cover the years 2011 and 2012. After analyzing 35 covers with its published interiors During this period, it was concluded that this newspaper was not necessarily favorable with respect to the Cajamarca protesters, so a more complex news treatment was carried out where all the actors involved were made visible. / Tesis

Recent environmental catastrophes such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by BP in the Gulf of Mexico and the rising acid mine water in Johannesburg, South Africa, have demonstrated the far reaching environmental, social and financial consequences of unsustainable environmental management practices. Mining is an activity that significantly contributes to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product but has the potential to significantly impact the environment and a diverse set of stakeholders. As a result, it is imperative that mining activities are undertaken in a sustainable manner. This research studied the mining sector’s response to environmental sustainability on a company level. The study entailed the use of a mixed methods approach within a strategic framework to enable the researcher to confirm the maturity level of current practices and simultaneously explore the extent to which companies are preparing for the future. The key research findings suggest that South African mining companies have current practices that are relatively developed, with insufficient focus on innovation to meet the future sustainability challenge. Key recommendations to meet the sustainability challenge include industry collaboration, a change in paradigm by companies, integration of suppliers into product stewardship practices and adequately managing the tension between the local empowerment and environmental agenda. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

En la presente propuesta de mejora de procesos en Corporación ZAMTSU S.R.L., que es una empresa dedicada a la comercialización de instrumentos de medición industriales para el sector minero, energético y petrolero. Para la obtención de información, se realizaron entrevistas a los responsables de los procesos de venta y calibración, además se analizó una serie de registros, documentos, archivos, formatos y bases de datos, los cuales permitieron realizar un adecuado diagnóstico para establecer los problemas, sus causas y posibles soluciones. Una vez procesada la información, se llegó a la conclusión que, ZAMTSU no tenía un adecuado tratamiento para sus procesos, descuidando algunos aspectos de alta relevancia. Por otro lado, el 97% de los problemas encontrados se distribuye entre la falta de planificación en aprovisionamiento de instrumentos de medición industrial y retrasos en la calibración no conforme. Es por ello, que cualquier iniciativa o propuesta de mejora debe ir enfocada a los procesos que involucran estos problemas. El impacto económico por los procesos de calibración y ventas representa 72,412 nuevos soles de pérdida acumulada en el periodo 2013-2016, lo cual argumentó la elaboración de propuesta de mejora que se expondrá en los siguientes apartados. / For the present a proposal for process improvement for Corporation ZAMTSU S.R.L., which is a company dedicated to trade industrial measurement tools for mining, energy and oil sector. In order to obtain information, interviews were carried out with those responsible for the sales and calibration processes. In addition, a series of records, documents, files, formats and databases were analyzed, which allowed for an adequate diagnosis to establish the problems, their causes and possible solutions. Once the information was processed, it was concluded that, ZAMTSU did not have an adequate treatment for its processes, neglecting some aspects of high relevance. On the other hand, 97% of the problems found are distributed between the lack of planning in the provision of industrial measurement instruments and delays in non-conforming calibration. That is why, any initiative or proposal for improvement should be focused on the processes that involve these problems. The economic impact of the calibration and sales processes represents S/. 72,412 of accumulated loss in the period 2013-2016, which argued the elaboration of a proposal for improvement that will be discussed in the following sections. / Tesis