The government is planning to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to include illegal prospecting and mining activities as illegal activities, which will attract fines of up to R100m and imprisonment of up to 30 years, in the biggest yet crackdown on illegal mining.The proposed amendments to both the Criminal Procedure Act and Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act mark a big shift from the R250,000 maximum fine and maximum 10-year imprisonment [or both] that is presently in place.The mooted amendments define artisanal mining to state that this “means mining activities using rudimentary mining methods, manual and rudimentary tools to access mineral ore, usually available on the surface or at shallow depths.”The government also wants to make it easy to bring to book people who aid and abet illegal miners. President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year deployed more than 2,000 South African Defence Force members to assist the police to, amongst other things, clamp down on illegal mining.The hard line taken by the government will come as a big relief to mining houses, which have decried the growing threat to the sustainability of the local industry by illegal mining which undermines the rule of law and property rights, degrading the state’s ability to attract investment and meet its development goals.Worsening this challenge is that illegal mining is not directly addressed by legislation. Those arrested cannot be charged with illegal mining. Thus, in many cases, we are obliged to lay relatively minor charges of trespassing.Illegal mining activities are said to cost South Africa’s formal mining industry more than R7bn annually.South Africa’s flagship mining legislation, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002, makes it a crime to be in possession of unwrought precious metal ore without the required statutory authorisation. However, the act has long been criticised for its narrow definition of illegal mining, which prevents police from imposing punitive sentences.The proposed amendments seek to close this legislative loophole, with government essentially declaring war on illegal mining.