Fuel & diesel Regulation
Diesel refund: eligible and ineligible mining activities
Which mining activities earn the diesel refund under Schedule 6 Note 6(f), which do not, and a checklist for mines and contractors on dry and wet work.
Contents 8 sections
The diesel refund for mining covers the activities listed in Schedule 6, Part 3, Note 6(f)(iii) to the Customs and Excise Act. The main ones are exploration, overburden removal, mining the mineral, moving ore on the mine and to the nearest railway siding, mine roads, water, waste disposal and rehabilitation under the approved plan. Processing after the mineral is recovered, quarry crushing, sorting and washing, haulage beyond the nearest siding, transport for reward and diesel a contractor buys itself do not qualify.
The rate since 1 July 2026 is 382.2 cents per eligible litre for mining on land (Notice R.7479). What changed on 1 April 2026, when the refund moved from 80% to 100% of eligible litres, is covered in our diesel refund piece for mining. This page is the activity list.
Three tests before any activity counts
Note 6(f)(ii) sets three conditions. Qualifying mining must be carried on:
- “for own primary production by the user or by a contractor of the user who is contracted on a dry basis”;
- “unless otherwise specified, at the place where the mining operation is carried on”; and
- “by the holder or cessionary of the necessary authorisation granted or ceded in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002”.
The “user” must also be registered for VAT and for diesel refund purposes (Note 6(a)(vii)), and must buy the diesel. SARS’s policy says the claimant must “be the buyer and user of the diesel they are claiming a refund for” (SARS, SE-DSL-02). An activity on the list below still fails if any of these conditions fails.
“Minerals” includes “sand, stone, rock, soil (other than topsoil), clay, gravel and limestone”, but those qualify “only if mined from a quarry” (Note 6(f)(i)(bb) and (iv)).
Eligible mining activities
Note 6(f)(iii) says “Own primary production activities in mining include the following”. All items, as listed in the consolidated Schedule 6 dated 11 Sep 2026:
| Item | Activity (quoted or closely summarised) | Surface contractor work it covers |
|---|---|---|
| (aa) | “The exploration or prospecting for minerals” | Exploration drilling, trenching |
| (bb) | “The removal of over burden and other activities undertaken in the preparation of a site to enable the commencement of mining for minerals” | Box cuts, stripping, pre-strip |
| (cc) | Recovery of minerals, “but not including any post-recovery or post-mining processing” | Drill, blast, load and haul of ore or coal |
| (dd) | Searching for ground water solely for the mine, or building water extraction facilities | Borehole drilling for mine water |
| (ee), (ff) | Pumping and supplying water solely for the mine, at or next to the mine | Dewatering pumps |
| (gg) | “The construction or maintenance of private access roads at the place where the mining operation is carried on” | Haul road building, grading, watering |
| (hh), (ij) | Building or maintaining tailings dams and water dams for the mine | Dam wall construction |
| (kk) | Building or maintaining “buildings, plant or equipment for use in a mining operation” | Earthworks for plant and workshops |
| (ll) | Building or maintaining power stations or power lines solely for the mine | Line servitude clearing |
| (mm) | “Coal stockpiling for the prevention of the spontaneous combustion of coal as part of primary mining operations” | Stockpile compaction and shaping |
| (nn) | Carbon reactivation at a gold mine | Not surface earthmoving |
| (oo) | “The removal of waste products of a mining operation and the disposal thereof, from the place where the mining operation is carried on” | Waste and discard haulage to dumps |
| (pp) | Transporting ore “on the mining site” for processing in recovery of minerals | Pit to ROM pad or plant |
| (qq) | Service, maintenance or repair of vehicles, plant or equipment “by the person who carries on the mining operation”, at the mine | The mine’s own workshop and service trucks |
| (rr) | Service and repair of transport networks for the mine, at the mine | Rail spur and conveyor route upkeep on site |
| (ss) | Quarrying “necessary solely for obtaining, extracting and removing minerals from the quarry” | Quarry drill, blast, load and haul |
| (tt) | “The transport of ores or other substances containing minerals from the mining site to the nearest railway siding” | Haulage to the nearest railway siding |
| (uu) | Equipment “regarded as forming an integral part of the mining process”: agitators, drilling rigs, hammer mills, smelters, tunnelling machines, specially made underground equipment, front-end loaders, excavators, and rail locomotives for minerals or equipment | Drill rigs, loaders and excavators on qualifying work |
| (vv) | “Rehabilitation required by an environmental management programme or plan approved in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002” | Backfill, shaping, topsoiling on the mine |
Source: Schedule 6, consolidated 11 Sep 2026, read 25 Sep 2026. The Note uses the item letters shown; there is no item (ii) or (jj).
What does not qualify
Nothing in Note 6 uses the words “public road”. The exclusions below come from what the Note excludes in terms, or from what it leaves out of the list.
| Activity or fuel | Why it does not qualify | Where in Note 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Processing after the mineral is recovered | Recovery excludes “any post-recovery or post-mining processing of those minerals” | (f)(iii)(cc) |
| Crushing, sorting and washing at a quarry | Quarrying excludes “any secondary activities to work or process such minerals (including crushing, sorting and washing)” | (f)(iii)(ss) |
| Haulage from the mine to a customer, a port or a siding beyond the nearest one | Off-site transport is listed only “to the nearest railway siding” | (f)(iii)(tt) |
| Transport for reward | Non-eligible purchases include fuel “used in transport for reward or if resold” | (a)(v) |
| Rehabilitation off the mine, or after a closure certificate | Item (vv) excludes work “beyond the place where the mining operations are carried on or after a closure certificate has been issued” | (f)(iii)(vv) |
| Sand, stone, gravel and similar not mined from a quarry | These qualify “only if mined from a quarry” | (f)(iv) |
| Diesel a contractor buys itself (wet contract) | A contracted person “is not entitled to a refund in respect of distillate fuel used … to render such services” | (e)(i)(bb)(A) |
| Lost, stolen or leaked diesel | “regarded as non-eligible” and shown as a non-eligible purchase | (r)(i) to (ii) |
| Diesel mixed with kerosene, and “smokeless diesel” | Excluded from “distillate fuel” | (a)(i)(bb) |
| Work by someone without, or not ceded, the MPRDA authorisation | Fails the holder test | (f)(ii)(cc) |
Two items need care. Item (qq) covers servicing by “the person who carries on the mining operation”, so a contractor’s own service truck working on its own machines may fall outside it even on a dry contract. And item (uu) lists hammer mills and smelters as integral equipment while item (cc) excludes post-recovery processing. Where your plant sits between those two, get a written view before you claim.
Contractors: dry and wet
Only the user claims. Note 6(e)(i)(bb) says a contracted person “is not entitled to a refund” on fuel used to render its services. “Where a contract for such services is only on a dry basis, the user who supplies the distillate fuel to the contractor may apply for a refund in respect of the fuel actually used in rendering the services.”
So on a dry contract the mine’s claim depends on your records. The mine must keep “full particulars of any fuel supplied on a dry basis to any contractor” (Note 6(q)(v)(bb)(C)). The logbook definition asks for “equipment fuelled, eligible or non-eligible operations performed and records of fuel consumed” (Note 6(a)(xi)). If your fuel issues are not split by activity, the mine cannot split its claim.
On a wet contract, you buy the diesel and nobody claims the refund on it. At 382.2 cents a litre, that is R3,822 per 1,000 litres left in the price.
The holder test after the Glencore judgment
On 9 Apr 2026 the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on the third test. The Goedgevonden Joint Venture was formed to mine coal in the Witbank (Emalahleni) district. Its mining right was issued to Glencore, on condition that Glencore exercise it jointly with ARM under the joint venture agreement. In 2019 SARS’s National Appeal Committee found the joint venture not entitled to refunds because it held no mining right in its own name, and ordered the recoupment of R82,984,080. The High Court upheld that decision.
The SCA set it aside and declared that the joint venture “complied with Note 6(f)(ii)(cc)”. In its words, “the primary consideration concerning Note 6(f) is whether the joint venture possesses the necessary authorisation to conduct mining operations”. What decided it was that the mining right “authorised mining only through the JV” (SCA judgment, Glencore Operations SA v CSARS [2026] ZASCA 47, paragraphs 36, 37 and 65). The court applied the wording in force for the claims, “the person in possession of the necessary authorisation” (paragraph 24); the current Note says “holder or cessionary”. It also found that the Committee had no power to raise the amount claimed from about R5.1 million to R82,984,080 (paragraph 63).
For a contractor the practical point is narrower: the refund follows the MPRDA authorisation. A contractor mining under the holder’s right, on a dry basis, is inside the holder’s claim. A contractor claiming on its own account is not.
Every litre in the non-eligible rows must still appear on the return as a non-eligible purchase. Without the split by activity, the logbook cannot show the “eligible or non-eligible operations performed” that Note 6(a)(xi) asks for. Our piece on where diesel goes missing on a mine site covers the losses side.
Checklist for mines and contractors
Common questions
Does crushing qualify for the diesel refund?
Not in a quarry. Note 6(f)(iii)(ss) covers quarrying only to obtain, extract and remove the mineral, and excludes secondary processing, naming crushing, sorting and washing. At other mines, Note 6(f)(iii)(cc) excludes post-recovery or post-mining processing. Hammer mills are listed as integral equipment, so take advice on your own plant.
Does hauling ore on a public road qualify?
Note 6(f) does not mention public roads. It covers moving ore on the mining site to processing, and from the mining site to the nearest railway siding. Haulage to a customer, a port or a siding further away is not in the list, and fuel used in transport for reward is non-eligible.
Can a mining contractor claim the diesel refund on its own diesel?
No. A contracted person is not entitled to the refund on fuel it uses to render services. On a dry contract, where the mine supplies the diesel, the mine may claim for the fuel actually used on qualifying work.
Sources
- SARS, Schedule No. 6 to the Customs and Excise Act, consolidated 11 Sep 2026, Part 3, item 670.04, Note 6, read 25 Sep 2026
- R.7479, GG 54678, diesel refund provisions from 1 Jul 2026, read 25 Sep 2026
- Supreme Court of Appeal, Glencore Operations SA (Pty) Ltd and Others v CSARS (406/2024) [2026] ZASCA 47, judgment (9 Apr 2026), read 25 Sep 2026
- Supreme Court of Appeal, media summary, Glencore Operations SA (Pty) Ltd and Others v CSARS (406/2024) [2026] ZASCA 47 (9 Apr 2026), read 25 Sep 2026
- SARS, SE-DSL-02 Manage Diesel Refund Calculation, external policy (effective 20 Apr 2026), read 25 Sep 2026
- SARS, Diesel Refund Scheme, read 25 Sep 2026
