The Chamber of Mines has identified delays in issuing Environmental Clearance Certificates (ECCs) as one of the biggest obstacles facing Namibia’s mining sector, warning that slow regulatory approvals are delaying investment decisions even as the industry moves closer to exceeding the commitments it made under the Namibia Public-Private Forum (NamPPF).
Presenting the Chamber’s assessment of progress since the launch of the NamPPF at the Namibia Mining Expo and Conference on Wednesday, Chamber president George Botshiwe said the mining industry had already begun delivering on the commitments it made to government, but urged government to accelerate policy implementation and regulatory approvals to unlock the next wave of investment.
“One of the biggest problems we have is the rate at which our environmental clearance certificates are approved. And that tends to hold us back in terms of making investment decisions,” Botshiwe said.
He also called on Parliament to expedite the long-awaited Minerals Bill, saying the legislation would unlock additional investment opportunities across the sector while creating opportunities for businesses that supply and support mining.
“So, parliamentarians, if you are here, we need to get these Minerals Bills finalised because then it opens up a lot of opportunities for us,” he said.
“We really want to coordinate with the rest of the sectors in the economy to make sure that mining not only starts mines, but also we are able to unlock supporting industry as well,” he added.
Botshiwe reminded delegates that the Namibia Public-Private Forum was established under President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s leadership to create a platform where government and the private sector could jointly identify and remove bottlenecks preventing investment and job creation.
“The real idea was to align between the industry and obviously the public sector in terms of identifying and removing bottlenecks that were stopping companies from creating jobs and from bringing in investments,” he said.
He said the mining industry’s contribution to the national economy underscored the need to remove those constraints. According to Botshiwe, the sector contributes about 14% of Namibia’s gross domestic product, paid nearly N$8 billion into the fiscus during the last financial year, up from about N$5.7 billion the previous year, and procured almost N$24 billion worth of goods and services locally, supporting businesses throughout the supply chain. The industry directly employs more than 20,000 people and supports an estimated 145,000 indirect jobs across the economy.
Botshiwe said the industry had committed itself under the NamPPF to creating more than 18,000 jobs and attracting just under US$3 billion in new investment.
He noted that President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah had reminded the industry earlier in the day of those commitments and said the Chamber was pleased to already be reporting measurable progress.
“The Excellency today could not more than enough remind us that we made this promise,” he said.
“We are already on our way to achieve that.”
Botshiwe pointed to several projects that have already moved beyond the planning stage and into implementation.
In the gold sector, construction of Osino Resources’ Twin Hills mine is well under way, while B2Gold has commenced underground development and completed more than a kilometre of underground access.
Within the uranium sector, Bannerman Energy has begun early works at its Etango project, including railway-related infrastructure, alongside its planned US$474 million investment, while Deep Yellow continues advancing its US$450 million Tumas project.
Botshiwe also welcomed progress on the long-awaited Erongo desalination project, saying government’s decision to proceed through a public-private partnership had removed one of the mining industry’s most significant infrastructure constraints.
“We are really thrilled that the issue of the desalination in the Erongo Region has finally been resolved, that government has agreed to the partnership, and the project has been officially launched by the Prime Minister,” he said.
According to Botshiwe, the engineering, procurement and construction contract was ready to be awarded, if it had not already been awarded.
“So, we are really thankful for these different sectors in terms of gold, uranium and on the infrastructure. Thank you to the mining industry for this,” he said.
Despite the progress, Botshiwe said several strategic projects were still awaiting corporate or regulatory decisions, including Rössing Uranium’s proposed life-of-mine extension, Skorpion Zinc’s plant conversion project and the long-delayed marine phosphate project.
He said that although the marine phosphate moratorium had expired, the industry was still awaiting direction from government on the way forward.
“This has got a massive impact into the economy and could be able to unlock a lot of jobs and value addition across the different sectors,” he said.
Botshiwe said the Chamber’s confidence in achieving its investment and employment targets was based on projects that were already under construction, approved or awaiting final board and regulatory decisions rather than speculative proposals.
“Our contribution is credible and these things that you can touch are projects that we know are going to happen,” he said.
He added that the mining industry was also contributing to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s Economic Recovery Task Force through proposals aimed at accelerating investment and economic growth.
Looking ahead, Botshiwe said recent infrastructure decisions had already begun removing barriers to major mining investments, but stressed that government and industry still needed to work together to complete outstanding legislative reforms.
“We’ve got some infrastructure decisions that have been made to unlock these decisions. Ultimately, we need to come together with government to be able to finalise some of these laws so that we can unlock even further investments,” he said.
Botshiwe congratulated the mining industry for the progress achieved in less than a year since the launch of the Namibia Public-Private Forum and expressed confidence that the sector would surpass the commitments it had made to government.
“Brilliant work in less than a year since NamPPF. For the next five years, I see us overachieving in terms of the targets,” he said.
