| (1) | The Director-General shall be in charge of the Mining Titles Office and shall, subject to the provisions of this Act— |
| (a) | take charge of and preserve all records of the Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office: |
Provided that the Director-General may, with due regard to any regulations made under section 10(1)(k), destroy or otherwise dispose of any record which has been cancelled in terms of this Act or any other law;
[Section 5(1)(a) substituted by section 5(a) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (b) | examine all deeds, diagrams, plans or other documents submitted to him or her for execution, registration, recording, noting or filing in his or her office; |
[Section 5(1)(b) substituted by section 5(a) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
[Section 5(1)(c) substituted by section 5(a) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (d) | register prospecting, exploration, production, mining and related rights and any cession, renewal, modification, amendment, abandonment or cancellation or lapsing of such registered rights; |
[Section 5(1)(d) substituted by section 5(a) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (e) | register leases and sub-leases of any right granted under any law relating to exploration, production, prospecting and mining and any transfer, cession, amendment, modification, abandonment, lapsing or cancellation of any such lease or sub-lease; |
[Section 5(1)(e) substituted by section 5(a) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (f) | [Section 5(1)(f) deleted by section 5(b) of Act No. 24 of 2003] |
| (g) | attest or execute and register deeds of transfer and deeds of cession of rights, and execute and register certificates of title to rights; |
| (i) | register cessions (including cessions made as security) of registered mortgage bonds, and register cancellations of such cessions if made as security; |
| (j) | register cancellations of registered mortgage bonds, releases of any part of the rights hypothecated thereby or of all such rights if the debt is further secured by a collateral bond, releases of any joint debtor or of any surety in respect of any such bond, the substitution of another person for a debtor in respect of any such bond, reductions of cover in respect of any such bond intended to secure future debts, and part payments of the capital amount due in respect of any such bond other than a bond intended to secure future debts; |
| (k) | register waivers of preference in respect of registered mortgage bonds with regard to the whole or any part of the rights hypothecated thereby, in favour of other bonds, whether registered or about to be registered; |
| (l) | register any servitude over any right capable of being encumbered by servitude by virtue of the provisions of any law relating to prospecting and mining, and endorse any amendment, modification, abandonment or extinction of any registered servitude; |
[Section 5(1)(l) substituted by section 5(c) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (m) | register all notarial contracts relating to any rights granted in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002; |
[Section 5(1)(m) substituted by section 5(d) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (n) | register any notarial variation, renewal or cancellation of such contracts; |
[Section 5(1)(n) substituted by section 5(d) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (o) | register against any registered mortgage bond any agreement entered into by the mortgagor and the holder of that bond, whereby any terms of that bond have been varied; |
| (p) | register powers of attorney whereby the agents named therein are authorized to act generally for the principals, or to carry out a series of transactions registerable in the Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office, and register copies of any such powers registered in a deeds registry, which have been certified by the registrar thereof or have been issued for the purpose of being acted upon in the Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office by a Registrar or Master of the High Court of South Africa; |
[Section 5(1)(p) substituted by section 5(e) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (q) | in connection with the registration of any deed or other document, or in compliance with the requirements of any law or order of court, make such endorsements on any registered deed or other document as may be necessary to give effect to such registration or to the objects of such law or order of court; |
| (r) | record all notices, returns, statements or orders of court lodged with him or her in terms of any law; |
[Section 5(1)(r) substituted by section 5(f) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (s) | give notice to the Regional Manager of any registration or recordings effected in relation to any rights in the region concerned; |
[Section 5(1)(s) substituted by section 5(g) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (t) | record the conversion, renewal, modification, abandonment, lapsing or cancellation of any rights evidenced by any registered title deed registered, recorded, noted or filed in the Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office; |
[Section 5(1)(t) substituted by section 5(h) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (u) | remove from his or her records, with the approval of the Master and after the lapsing of ten years from the date of entry in such records, any entry made therein, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, in pursuance of the transmission to him or her of a notice of liquidation or an order of liquidation or sequestration; |
[Section 5(1)(u) substituted by section 5(i) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (v) | record and file all mining permits, retention permits, technical co-operation permits, reconnaissance permits and permissions, financial provisions, approved environmental management plans, approved environmental management programmes and closure certificates issued in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002; |
[Section 5(1)(v) substituted by section 5(i) of Act No. 24 of 2003]
| (w) | keep such registers and records and make such entries therein as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act or any other law and of maintaining an efficient system of registration calculated to afford security of title and ready reference to any registered deed or document; and |
| (x) | generally discharge all such duties as by law may or are to be discharged by him or are necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act or any other law. |
| (2) | [Section 5(2) deleted by section 5(j) of Act No. 24 of 2003] |
