Environmental management for mining was regulated by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act and its regulations in a manner that is in many ways similar to that provided for in the National Environmental Management Act. It must be emphasised, however, that there are also important differences. Bringing mining activity in the EIA regulations into effect would have resulted in the duplication of regulatory requirements and so the conditions stipulated by the Minister could, accordingly, not be met as long as the status quo in terms of the legislative framework was in place.