A senior official at the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy told a mining conference on Tuesday that the final agreement to implement a functioning mining cadastre was signed this week and that the process remained on track. Also, 2,800 applications for various kinds of mining and prospecting rights and permits were processed last year.

South Africa's implementation of a mining cadastre, seen as crucial for encouraging exploration and attracting investment, remains on track - even if the process has been slower than the industry had hoped for.

Tseliso Maqubela, the deputy director-general for petroleum and regulation at the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), told the Junior Mining Indaba in Johannesburg that the SLA (senior-level agreement) had been signed on Monday, paving the way for the system to be established.

"We have taken the time that is normally taken by other countries," Maqubela told the conference, which is organised by Resources for Africa.

Maqubela noted that in Botswana -- which has a much smaller mining sector than South Africa's -- it took 13 months from procurement to the site going live.

The DMRE announced the preferred bidder for the cadastre at the end of January after years of needless delays cost the mining sector billions of rand in lost investments.

The main partner in the PMG consortium that won the bid is Canadian-based Geotech, which is widely seen as first-class in the field.

"The Canadians are very tough negotiators," Maqubela said.

A functional mining cadastral system is an online portal that displays a...