Introduction

Dated: 28 September 2002

Following a workshop with members of the mining industry on the 23rd August 2002 it was decided to establish a mining committee of volunteers from the industry to review the DME240 form which requested the mining industry to submit information on existing permits, leases, permissions and licenses.

The committee met on the 30th August and there were a number of issues raised by the representatives of the mining houses with regard to the verification forms and the information required by the DME. The DME reviewed its position and on the 10th September reported back to the committee. After final inputs the decision of DME regarding the way forward are outlined below.

Submission of information and the specified time-frame

It was highlighted during the committee meeting that the information required on the verification forms is a lot for the specified time frame. Initially all the information was required by the 31st October 2002.

The DME has now agreed to subdivide the submission of this information into two phases, with regard to adjusting the initial time frame:

Submission of Information on existing permits, leases, permissions and licenses
It was agreed that the mining houses provide us with information on all their existing permits, leases, permissions and licenses. The due date for the submission of this information has been extended to 31st December 2002.

Information relating to mineral rights
Information relating to mineral rights need not be supplied at this stage.

Providing certified copies of leases, permissions, licenses, permits and title deeds

It has been agreed that the certified copies of the abovementioned documents need not be attached to the verification forms. Only the license/permit number is required as specified in the verification form. The title deed number is also not required, but will be should any problems arise during new applications.

Electronic version of the DME 240 form

The DME has developed an excel spreadsheet which can be completed as an electronic version of the DME240 form. Please complete it and return it to the DME via email or print it, sign it and post it to the DME.

Batch Processing

The DME has agreed that the information can be electronically sent through in a prescribed batch-processing format. It is important to note that batch submissions that do not pass a compatibility test will be sent back.

It is recommended that a sample of the submission is sent to the DME before completing the entire dataset to be sent to the DME. More instructions will be available in the batch processing pack.

Furthermore, It is very important to note that the DME will require the mining houses who have made electronic submissions to sign the verification reports that will be sent to them by DME as a confirmation that the information that has been supplied is correct and true.

Rights to different seams or reefs

For the verification, the DME is not concerned with information relating to rights, licenses, permissions or permits with regard to different seams or reefs within a specified area. It is requested that organizations simple supply the bounding spatial extent for each right, license, permission or permit.

Instructions for completing the DME and DME240E forms

It has been decided that there are not to be any changes to the forms. This is to prevent confusion by having two versions of the same form circulating throughout the industry. Here are additional instructions to help industry complete the form:

Area
The area (ha) should be hand written under section F, next to the block for spheroid and datum.

Farm portions
If the area can be defined in terms of whole farm portion/s (not portions of portions) based on the current surface cadastre (not in terms of old cadastral boundaries), then the whole farm portion/s may be given and it is not necessary to provide coordinates. If coordinates are given then there is no need to supply farm portions.

If the farm portion/s are split due to other subdivisions (see portion 36 above), then the user should rather give coordinates. If the rights can be described in terms of whole portions, but the portions are no adjacent to each other, this is still acceptable.

Coordinates
If the mining or prospecting area is greater or less than a farm portion, please supply the coordinates for the boundary extent of the rights, licenses, permissions or permits area in degrees, minutes and seconds, decimal degrees or LoY and LoX.

If possible and where appropriate, please provide the coordinates specified to six (6) decimal places. Please note that the first and the last record need to be the same and the coordinates need to be in sequence in a clockwise direction.

You can also provide the coordinates in an ASCII digital file format on a stiffy disk together with your form. Please indicate clearly on the form the name of the ASCII file relevant to the application. You still need to indicate on the form the datum and spheroid, and the LO band if the projection is not in geographic.

The ASCII file should not have any headers, just the coordinates. Once again please note that the first and the last record need to be the same and the coordinates need to be in sequence in a clockwise direction. The following are examples:

Example 1
If your data is in geographic projection (-latitude, longitude) in Decimal degrees the ASCII file will look as follows:

-23.78677,29.09140
-23.79577,29.09952
-23.80325,29.11932
-23.80765,29.13648
-23.81513,29.15012
-23.82349,29.16157
-23.82605,29.16396
-23.84749,29.14993
-23.85131,29.15055
-23.85033,29.14308
-23.84901,29.11492
-23.84901,29.10788
-23.85033,29.08764
-23.85165,29.07048
-23.85131,29.05548
-23.84850,29.05548
-23.83093,29.05329
-23.82323,29.05212
-23.81075,29.06400
-23.78802,29.08656
-23.78677,29.09140

Example 2:
If your data is in geographic projection (-latitude, longitude) in Degrees minutes and seconds the ASCII file will look as follows:

32 0 0.612 S, 22 45 15.732 E
31 59 31.884 S, 22 42 59.76 E
32 0 6.552 S, 22 42 14.832 E
32 0 6.912 S, 22 45 16.704 E
32 0 0.612 S, 22 45 15.732 E

Example 3: If your data is in LO projection (LO-y, LO-x) in meters the ASCII file will look as follows:

3228.0 2886254.0
5000.0 2885727.0
4916.0 2885916.0
4664.0 2886636.0
4673.0 2886845.0
4692.0 2887337.0
3668.0 2887653.0
3228.0 2886254.0

It is important to note that most GIS packages will deal with LO-y LO-x coordinates as Cartesian coordinates. In other words they are based on the reference to the equator for LO-x, which is negative. In using LO in South Africa the LO-x is positive. If the data is extracted from a GIS in this form, it is important to multiply both LO-y and LO-x by -1 to get the true LO coordinates.

If one has problems with getting the data into the specified format it is recommended that one uses the resources of either a GIS or Surveying company.

Commodities
Please use the commodity codes listed in the Annexure. The DME is aware that the classification of some commodities is not correct, but it does not impact the Code.

Ownership Shares
The department reiterates that it does not wish to have any information supplied regarding the ownership of shares and that under Part E: Holders of Mineral Rights people should tick either private or state OR both Private and State if the rights are held by both.