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546
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
It
will be recalled that in 1946 the Government, after considering the
report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Gold Mining Taxation,
radically altered the system of gold-mining taxation by substituting a
single formula tax for the basic tax, formula tax and special
contribution levied in previous years. Changes were also made in the
amortization allowance permitting the unredeemed balance of capital
expenditure to be written off over a shorter period than previously
applied.
Possibly
the most important innovation was the acceptance by GovernÂment of the
recommendation of the committee that in the case of
new
mines, no taxation should be payable until all capital expenditure has
been allowed as a charge against profits—a new mine being defined as
one whose mining lease has been approved . . . after 28 February 1946,
or one which the Government Mining Engineer certifies as having been
established as an independent workable proposition since that date.
This means, in practice, that the first category includes all the
Orange Free State gold-mines.62
♦ XXV ♦
The
first tentative moves towards the re-entry of Anglo American
Corporation into the Orange Free State were taken in January 1941, when
R. B. Hagart and F. A. Unger had a conversation with Louis Marks of
Lewis and Marks. Writing to Ernest Oppenheimer under date of 8 January,
Hagart said that:
Unger
and I saw Louis Marks this morning and discussed with him the Free
State farms and options owned by his company. I told him that we were
naturally interested in the work which they were doing, as we regarded
ourselves as the pioneers in that field, in view of the work which we
had done in Western Reefs, and that we had been wondering whether there
was any way in which we could co-operate with him in the areas which
they held. Marks indicated that the areas they held belonged to them
entirely, with the exception of certain commitments in the event of
flotation to the owners from whom they had purchased their option
rights. At the present time very little work was being done and only
one drill was operating, and they did not have it in mind that it was
either necessary or advisable to take in any partners. I then raised
the question of the present being a suitable time to obtain a
Government lease on favourable terms and it was apparent that Marks was
fully aware of the application for a lease which has been made by
Western Holdings. He stated that it was premature to do anything in the
way of approaching the Government now, primarily for the reason
62 J. C. Thorns, 'Gold mining taxation in South Africa', 4 Optima, no. 2, p. 17.
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