President Hage Geingob has encouraged government ministries to work faster on the implementation modalities to accelerate the realisation of beneficiation of Namibia’s minerals for a sustainable economic and social development.
“Working hard will ensure that our citizens, most notably our youth, can have their hopes for jobs and personal actualisation realised during their lifetime. In this regard, I call on and encourage the responsible government ministries, mining industry, private sector, development banks, and partners to get the processes rolling as soon as possible and as fast as possible,” the President urged yesterday during the official opening of the 2023 Mining Expo and Conference.
The two-day conference is being hosted by the Chamber of Mines of Namibia. This 10th Mining Expo and Conference in the capital is being held under the theme: ‘Namibia’s role in the sustainable supply of minerals to support the global energy transition’.
During remarks delivered on his behalf by Vice President Nangolo Mbumba, Geingob noted that green hydrogen projects promise to revitalise Namibia’s long-held ambitions of mineral beneficiation and value addition. This agenda now holds the potential to secure much-needed energy for Namibia’s sustainable economic and social development.
The country, Geingob added, aims to position itself to offer clean, affordable energy to the world economy through the production of green hydrogen.
Similarly, the President continued that the discovery of large oil reserves in the Orange basin and development of the gas sector as transitional energy forms are set to drastically change the Namibian economic landscape as well as the socio-economic conditions of Namibian citizens.
Moreover, he pointed out that mining and processing of critical minerals, such as lithium and other rare earth minerals, have significantly increased as efforts escalate to move from fossil-based systems to clean energy sources in a global interest.
Consequently, countries such as the United States of America and Japan and the European Union (EU) have signed agreements with Namibia to secure sufficient supply of these critical minerals for their economies.
“However, we have made it clear to these interested parties and potential others that Namibia will only do business with stakeholders who share its vision of local value addition to our minerals to produce finished products for export. We have learnt valuable lessons from history that nations which export their products in unprocessed forms at cheaper prices and buy back finished products at higher prices are not able to develop their economies to the extent required for shared wealth and development among their citizens,” the President emphasised.
To heed this call, Cabinet two months ago resolved to prohibit the exportation of Namibia’s critical minerals in raw form in a bid to create more local jobs and create more local value.
This submission applies to materials such as unprocessed crushed lithium, graphite, cobalt, manganese and rare earth elements.
Geingob noted that Namibia is open for business, as is witnessed in the country’s progressive policies, regulatory frameworks, developed infrastructure and political stability, for investors in the mineral sector. However, he stressed that such investments must take place on Namibia’s terms of local value addition.
Geingob also stated that government has taken note of public calls for greater participation in the ownership of these ventures and he noted work is underway to amend Namibian laws to allow for a certain percentage of mandatory government ownership in all mineral licences.
At the same occasion, mines minister Tom Alweendo said it is an undeniable fact that the mining sector remains one of the key contributors to Namibia’s gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange earnings and the economy at large.
“It is for this reason that our mineral resources must be developed sustainably to achieve our socioeconomic goals. This is to be done in such a manner that in the long run, the resources are preserved, the environment is protected, and human well-being is guaranteed,” said Alweendo.
The minister commended investors in the mining sector and encouraged them to do more by, for example, considering introducing employee share schemes where employees take part in the ownership of the company.
“We are keen to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with like-minded partners to invest in our downstream processing capabilities, while at the same time ensuring sustainable global supply chains. This is the only effective way to address our socio-economic challenges of unemployment and inequality,” said Alweendo.