Jindal Mining Namibia is advancing plans for a new iron ore operation about 50 km east of Windhoek, in the Khomas Region, with mining to be concentrated on Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) 4013 and 4194 near the C23 and roughly 9 km from Hosea Kutako International Airport.
Brake Trading, which holds the licenses, has an 85% and exercises managerial authority, while Alexander Adolf Warne owns 10% of Brake Trading, and Phoenix Minerals DMCC, UAE, owns the other 5%.
Project documents describe multiple open pits that feed a beneficiation plant for crushing, pebble milling, magnetic separation, reverse flotation, and filtration to produce iron-ore fines for export via Walvis Bay.
The development, commonly referred to as the Jindal Iron Ore Mine, is being advanced by Jindal Mining Namibia (Pty) Ltd under the Jindal Africa umbrella.
A company overview notes Jindal’s plan to operate an iron ore mine in Khomas and confirms corporate links to Brake Trading (Pty) Ltd, which holds the concessions.
On permitting, the project completed a public scoping phase led by Environmental Compliance Consultancy (ECC).
A revised final scoping report and a proof-of-consultation addendum were issued on 2 September 2024 after newspaper notices and a public meeting earlier that year; the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) recorded the screening step as approved, with the full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and specialist studies to follow.
In MEFT’s system, the project is shown as “EIA underway,” with a high (A) risk classification.
Utilities and logistics are already outlined in the scoping material.
Power would be drawn from NamPower’s grid—indicatively about 15 MW—with a tie-in around the Auas substation and the possibility of on-site solar referenced in screening notes.
Process water demand is profiled in the range of roughly 1.0–1.5 million m³ per year at steady state (higher during ramp-up) using a blend of boreholes, pit dewatering, recycling to a process-water dam at the tailings storage facility (TSF), and potential reuse of treated wastewater from Windhoek’s Ujams plant.
Bulk fuel consumption in year one was tentatively flagged at 30–50 kL per day in the screening.
Because the deposit lies inland, Jindal proposes a new rail siding to connect with TransNamib’s network near Seeis or Neudamm, allowing product to move ~460 km to the Port of Walvis Bay.
Traffic, rail safety, and siding design are among the specialist studies scoped for the ESIA, together with groundwater, air quality, noise, blast, biodiversity, geochemistry, heritage, and social impact work.
The Jindal proposal arrives as Namibia’s iron-ore story begins to crystallise after decades in the shadow of uranium, diamonds and base metals.
In August 2021, Namport announced the country’s first iron-ore export—a 52,000-tonne shipment of raw ore produced by Lodestone at its Dordabis project southeast of Windhoek—marking Namibia’s debut on the iron-ore map and proving the Walvis Bay logistics chain for bulk iron.
Lodestone has since outlined ambitions to scale up to high-grade iron-ore concentrate (HPI) output of several million tonnes per year at full potential and has publicly discussed a long-term path toward “green” hot-briquetted iron or steel using Namibia’s emerging hydrogen ecosystem.
Regional rail and corridor initiatives are also trending in iron’s favour. The Walvis Bay Corridor Group has welcomed miners looking to channel bulk product to port, and separate announcements linked to Botswana’s Tsodilo Resources point to industry interest in upgrading the Walvis Bay rail corridors to handle tens of millions of tonnes per year of high-grade iron products over time—investments that, if realised, would also benefit Namibian bulk exporters.
If approved, Jindal’s mine would become a second central plank in Namibia’s iron-ore base alongside Dordabis.
Key parameters, such as nameplate capacity (Mtpa), mine life, TSF design, job numbers, and final water and power solutions, are flagged for the forthcoming detailed studies and government review.
Community and environmental factors will attract scrutiny given the location.
The EPLs lie close to transport corridors and rural settlements east of the capital, and specialist teams have been appointed for a Heritage Impact Assessment and other baseline work.
The scoping report indicates that mitigation will rely on progressive rehabilitation, water recycling, blast management plans, and a rail-first logistics strategy.
Iron ore adds a bulk commodity to the export mix, broadens the use case for national logistics assets, and—if projects move beyond raw ore to concentrate or HPI—could link into the country’s ambitions in green hydrogen and lower-carbon metallurgy.
Lodestone’s declared intent to pursue greener iron routes illustrates its potential; Jindal’s plans, although earlier-stage, would add scale and competition if the resource, infrastructure, and ESG hurdles are cleared.
What to watch next: the release of Jindal’s full ESIA terms and specialist reports; clarity on rail siding design and TransNamib capacity upgrades; final water sourcing and recycling commitments; and an initial view on production scale and product specification from the beneficiation flowsheet.
Those disclosures will determine whether the proposed mine can meet Namibia’s environmental standards and whether it can integrate into a corridor that is steadily positioning Walvis Bay as a West Coast outlet for southern African iron.
According to the scoping filings, Jindal’s labour estimates indicate that between 100 and 300 people will be employed during the construction phase, and a total of around 6,300 jobs will be created during the operational phase, with approximately 600 of those expected to be core direct employees and the rest contractors.
These roles would run across a mine life of roughly 25 years once production begins.
The filings also note that investment figures are not yet disclosed; instead, indicative parameters are presented—such as a beneficiation plant targeting 2 Mtpa, ~20 MW of grid power with possible solar backup, and logistics tied to a new TransNamib siding to Walvis Bay—while the detailed capex, mine life and output capacity will be finalised after the ESIA and feasibility studies are completed.
