• COUNTRY IN FOCUS
A significant find of Rare Earth Elements ( REEs ) on a farm in north central Namibia was announced last year ; with a proven ore body of 579 million tons and a cut-off grade of 0.02 to 1.00 percent of REEbearing materials , prospects seem highly positive .
Gold has also been mentioned by Veston Malango , CEO of the Chamber of Mines , as an exciting prospect for Namibia . In 2022 he said , “ The gold mines in operation have embarked on expansion projects and there are two promising gold exploration projects . Namibia also has a number of base metals projects that have now become more attractive . This includes the old Kombat copper mine , which has been redeveloped and produced its first copper concentrate towards the end of last year .” 10
Tin is yet another commodity Namibia produces – AfriTin Mining reported record levels of concentrate production at its Uis tin mine in November last year , according to its latest quarterly update ( at time of writing ). Recent oil discoveries by TotalEnergies and Shell could make Namibia , the southern neighbour of OPEC member Angola , the latest oil producer along the African Atlantic coast . " The companies are cautious but have talked about commercial quantities in billions of barrels ," said minister Alweendo . " The commerciality is there ." He noted that the two companies were busy with appraisal wells to decide where to start production . “ This is an exciting journey , as oil is in great demand and these discoveries promise to transform the Namibian economy . We will be paying particular attention to local content in the oil and gas industry . Many services will be required to provide for this new industry growth , and we want to make sure that , as much as is possible , these services will be supplied by Namibian entrepreneurs , rather than being imported . The economy will not only benefit directly from oil revenues , but also by providing the necessary services that we would want to create within the local economy .”
Local beneficiation As a small commodity-dependent economy , Namibia is highly susceptible to the volatility of commodity prices and the Namibian government has therefore been on a drive to diversify and promote local beneficiation under its National Development Plans ( NDPs ), Industrialisation Policy ( IP ) and its implementation of ‘ Growth at Home Strategy .’
Power has proved to be a particular challenge in this drive as Namibia relies on imported power from South Africa . Recently , however , the country ' s power infrastructure is rapidly developing , according to Joe Walsh , managing director of Lepidico operating the Karibib project in Namibia . " By around 2025 , Namibia expects to generate some 80 % of its power from renewable sources ," he confirmed . 10
Regulatory challenges Although Namibia is renowned for its political stability and sound economic management – which , according to the World Bank , has assisted in poverty reduction and allowed Namibia to become an upper-middle income country – it is noted that the legacy of apartheid systems of government in the past have led to lingering socio-economic inequalities , recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic . Namibia ranks as one of the world ’ s most unequal countries and the result has been a dual economy – a highly developed modern sector , co-existing with an informal subsistence-oriented one . In order to rectify this , there has been a
16 • African Mining • October 2023 www . africanmining . co . za