Four companies are negotiating - Sibanye-Stillwater , Harmony Gold, AngloGold Ashanti and a smaller producer, Village Main Reef- under the auspices of the Minerals Council South Africa industry group.
The Canadian streaming firm has bought all of Stillwater's gold production for the life of the mine and, initially, also 4.5% of its total palladium output.
Production in the second-quarter of the year jumped 6.1% to 163,200 tonnes, as higher output at its Centinela and Antucoya mines mitigated declines at Los Pelambres and Zaldívar.
Companies can now perform non-systematic drilling during the early exploration phase of their mining concessions and without requiring an environmental license.
Study released Tuesday by the Fraser Institute, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec are the three main provinces where exploration permit processes have grown longer and less transparent over the past 10 years.