Despite the strict deadline imposed on the bill, it has taken two months for it to get to President Thabo Mbeki's offices.
Bheki Khumalo, the president's spokesperson, believed the bill had been held up by the amendments that had to be made after stakeholders had given their input on the laws.
He said about three weeks ago the office had not set eyes on the legislation.
Stakeholders had been led to believe that the bill was handed over to the president immediately after it was passed by parliment in late June. This is the traditional route new legislation follows before being passed into law.
There are no indications that the late delivery of the bill will delay the implementation of the new laws.
But mixed signals from the government have left stakeholders wondering exactly how far along the legislative journey the bill has travelled.
Speaking at this week's announcement of an empowerment deal between BHP Billiton and Kuyasa Mining, Susan Shabangu, deputy minister of minerals and energy, said: "We are just about to sign the minerals bill."
She said the government was now focusing on making the mining industry's empowerment charter, which is to accompany the new legislation when it is implemented towards the end of the year, an equal success.
Mining industry stakeholders are expected to meet in the next two weeks to continue their debate over the content of the controversial charter.
Little was said after the last stakeholders meeting but nerves appear to have been calmed by the government's reassurance that it had no intention to nationalise mines and that it would use single percentage targets.
Kanyo Gqulu, the spokesperson for minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said the department was planning a roadshow where it would sell South Africa's mining industry and the new laws that govern it to the world.
The roadshow would include a delegation consisting of the government, merchant banks, unions and small mining companies, he said.