Dealmaker Investments (Pty) Ltd, the only company currently holding an active Exclusive Prospecting Licence (EPL) over the Aranos coalfield, is charting a bold new course to transform Namibia’s long-overlooked coal resource into a clean energy asset.
Chief executive officer David Mooney confirmed that Dealmaker, which Damara Natural Resources Ltd wholly owns, controls the coalfield’s historic resource estimated at 370 million tonnes.
The deposit averages 2.21 metres in thickness with an average calorific value of 25.00 MJ/kg at a cut-off of 1.5 metres — characteristics that define it as low sulphur and low phosphorus coal.
“Dealmaker is currently busy with a work program that aims to confirm this historic resource and upgrade it to bring it to account,” Mooney said.
While many assume Namibia’s coal deposits are stranded in a world transitioning to renewables, Mooney argues the opposite.
“Coal remains the most widely mined mineral globally and is still the basis for base-load power generation in most of the world,” he noted, pointing to South Africa, where roughly 85 per cent of electricity is generated from coal.
Namibia has a 600 MW supply agreement with Eskom, while Zambia and Zimbabwe have a combined 200 MW power export around the same time.
“This will leave Namibia in dire straits indeed,” Mooney warned, adding that the recent withdrawal of RWE from its memorandum of understanding with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy underscores the uncertainties facing green hydrogen development.
To meet this challenge, Dealmaker is exploring the possibility of producing electricity and industrial products using blue hydrogen derived from coal — a process that captures and stores all resulting emissions. The company is in talks with potential partners to develop a facility that would generate blue hydrogen, nitrogen-based fertilisers, and ammonia with zero emissions.
According to Mooney, “Current work shows that blue hydrogen can be produced at a cost of between US$1.50 and US$2.00 per gigajoule, compared to the US$8.00–12.00 range for green hydrogen.”
He believes this approach could provide Namibia with a secure and sustainable domestic energy source while reducing its dependence on imports.
“The hydrogen produced in Namibia would be utilised to produce electricity for the benefit of Namibians at a time when supplies from neighbouring countries will be curtailed — possibly even allowing Namibia to become a net exporter of power,” he said.
Globally, blue hydrogen derived from coal is already being produced on a large scale.
Mooney cited examples from the United States, where one such plant has been operating since 1984, as well as several new facilities under development in South Africa and China.
“It is not new technology, just a different application of older technology,” he said.
Mooney also clarified that Dealmaker is now the rightful custodian of the Aranos coalfield, stating that Gecko’s licences in the area expired nearly a decade ago. “Dealmaker applied for, and was granted, the coal EPL when it became available by Gecko’s successor on the project,” he confirmed.
The company’s environmental assessment report, compiled by Excel Dynamic Solutions, highlights both the potential benefits and the consequences of discontinuing the exploration programme.
“Should the proposal of exploration activities on the EPL be discontinued, none of the potential impacts (positive and negative) identified would occur,” the report states. “If the proposed project is to be discontinued, the current land use for the proposed site would remain unchanged.”
The assessment also compares the “no-action” alternative, outlining what would be lost if the project did not proceed. These include the loss of foreign direct investment, the missed opportunity to create approximately ten temporary jobs for local community members, and the absence of economic activity that would have benefited nearby businesses through the procurement of essential items such as protective equipment, machinery spare parts, lubricants, accommodation, and catering services.
Rejecting the notion that Namibia’s coal might remain an untouched relic of a bygone energy era, Mooney said Dealmaker’s vision is to harness the resource for Namibia’s own development.
“It is Dealmaker’s intention that Namibia’s coal resources be brought to account, not for export, but for the benefit of Namibia and Namibians — by exploiting this natural resource in a zero-emission, environmentally friendly, and responsible manner.”
