President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has invited United States companies to invest across Namibia’s critical-minerals industry, from exploration and mining to processing, refining and manufacturing, as the government seeks to turn the country’s mineral resources into locally processed products.
Speaking to American business executives in New York on Monday, Nandi-Ndaitwah identified uranium, lithium, rare earth elements, copper, cobalt, graphite, manganese, tantalum and tin among minerals that could form the basis of deeper commercial ties between Namibia and the United States.
She told the US-Namibia Presidential Roundtable Executive Breakfast, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce and its US-Africa Business Centre, that Namibia wants investment to extend beyond extracting raw minerals.
“Our objective is clear. We will not remain exporters of raw natural resources and importers of value-added products,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
“We seek investment in local processing, refining, technology, skills and downstream industries so that our resources create jobs, grow Namibian businesses and advance industrialisation.”
The President presented Namibia as a potential partner for the United States as Washington seeks more diversified and resilient supplies of minerals used in energy technologies, advanced manufacturing and other strategic industries.
“For the United States, Namibia offers more than mineral resources. We offer the opportunity to build secure, transparent and resilient critical-mineral supply chains with a trusted partner,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s pitch places mineral beneficiation at the centre of Namibia’s efforts to attract US investment.
She told executives that opportunities extend from exploration and extraction into processing, logistics and manufacturing.
“This is a strong opportunity for US companies to partner with Namibia across the value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing, logistics and manufacturing,” she said.
Namibia already has substantial mining and exploration activity across several of the commodities the President identified.
The country is a major uranium producer, while exploration and development programmes are targeting lithium, rare earth elements, copper, graphite, tantalum and tin.
The government’s push for more domestic mineral processing is also consistent with its broader policy of using natural resources to support industrialisation rather than relying predominantly on exports of unprocessed material.
In February, Namibia and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development launched work specifically examining value addition and diversification within critical energy-transition mineral value chains.
Monday’s investment pitch follows increasing engagement between Namibia and the United States around energy and critical minerals.
In August, US Ambassador John Giordano and Deputy Under Secretary of Energy Mike Kopp were among a senior American delegation that held meetings in Namibia focused on energy security, critical minerals, infrastructure and investment.
Giordano said at the time that the two countries could combine Namibia’s mineral resources with American capital, technology and innovation to develop more secure supply chains.
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s New York remarks now take that discussion directly to American companies, with the President asking private investors to help develop Namibia’s mineral industry.
The approach also comes two months after Namibia strengthened its minerals relationship with China.
During Nandi-Ndaitwah’s July state visit to China, Namibia and China signed agreements covering areas including uranium, lithium and rare earths, with local processing, technology transfer and skills development forming part of the cooperation.
The President’s US pitch therefore suggests Namibia is seeking investment and technology from multiple international partners rather than tying its mineral-development strategy to a single market.
Nandi-Ndaitwah also invited American companies to participate in Namibia’s emerging oil and gas industry.
She said recent offshore discoveries have opened opportunities beyond exploration and production into services, logistics, technology, skills development, and associated industrial value chains.
Namibia has yet to begin commercial offshore oil production, with projects resulting from discoveries in the Orange Basin still progressing through appraisal and development planning.
The President presented the emerging petroleum industry as part of a broader strategy to establish Namibia as an energy and investment hub serving southern Africa.
Renewable energy and green hydrogen were also identified as areas in which Namibia is seeking US participation.
She said Namibia intends to use its renewable-energy resources not only to produce energy but to support industrialisation, value addition and economic diversification.
Nandi-Ndaitwah linked the mineral and energy investment pitch to Namibia’s infrastructure ambitions, telling US executives that the proposed Trans-Kalahari Railway is moving closer to implementation after completing its feasibility study.
The study was formally completed and handed over in July, moving the Namibia-Botswana project into its next phase.
The railway is intended to connect Botswana with the Port of Walvis Bay and carry commodities including coal, copper, iron ore, fuel and other freight. The Namibian government said this month that the project entered the procurement phase, although it has not yet set a firm construction start date.
Nandi-Ndaitwah told the US business gathering that a tender for development and construction was expected “soon”, presenting the railway as an investment opportunity for companies involved in engineering, construction, logistics and financing.
She said Namibia ultimately wants investors to see the country not simply as a market of about three million people, but as a platform from which businesses can access the wider Southern African Development Community market.
