Namibia’s mining industry has laid out an ambitious reform and investment agenda aimed at unlocking N$30 billion in new mining projects by 2030, increasing local beneficiation, and expanding employment opportunities across the mineral value chain.
The plan was presented at the Namibia Public-Private Forum by Irvinne Simataa, Executive Vice President of Swakop Uranium and Second Vice President of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia, alongside Zenzi N Awases, President of the Women in Mining Association of Namibia.
The two co-chair the Forum’s Working Group 5, which focuses on sustainable job creation and competitiveness in the extractive sector. Their presentation outlined a four-year roadmap linking upstream exploration, midstream processing, and downstream beneficiation to Namibia’s national development goals under NDP6 (2025–2030).
“We have to move beyond extraction toward value creation,” Simataa said. “Mining must serve as a cornerstone of Namibia’s economic transformation and citizen empowerment.”
Mining remains Namibia’s single most significant economic driver, contributing 13.3 per cent to GDP in 2024, generating N$7.3 billion in fiscal revenue, and supporting 20,800 direct jobs and 145,900 indirect jobs — a sevenfold employment multiplier across the economy.
According to the Chamber of Mines, the sector accounted for over half of Namibia’s foreign-exchange earnings last year, totalling N$48 billion, underscoring its central role in stabilising the economy.
Over the next four years, the industry is positioned for significant expansion, with a project pipeline exceeding US$2.8 billion in combined capital expenditure and an estimated 18,000 direct jobs in new and expanding operations.
These include the Osino Resources Twin Hills gold mine, the Navachab underground expansion, Bannerman’s Etango uranium project, Reptile Mineral Resources’ capacity expansion, Sinomine’s Tsumeb Smelter conversion, the Rössing Z20 life-extension project, and the Husab Leach expansion.
Approval of marine phosphate mining could add another 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, transforming Namibia into a regional fertiliser hub.
Despite the optimism, the working group warned that policy uncertainty, licensing delays, and infrastructure deficits threaten to derail progress. The unresolved Minerals Bill, slow approval processes for exploration and environmental permits, and red tape affecting work permits for technical specialists were highlighted as major obstacles.
Water scarcity, high electricity costs, and poor rail connectivity are also constraining expansion. The group recommended accelerating desalination infrastructure, fast-tracking NamPower’s energy supply commitments, and restoring policy certainty by finalising pending legislation.
“The growth potential is enormous,” Awases said. “But it requires decisive coordination — across ministries, state enterprises, and the private sector — to convert commitments into projects.”
The report reveals that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) supports more than 35,000 livelihoods across rural Namibia, yet remains largely informal and unregulated.
Licensing complexities, poor access to finance, and outdated technology have kept thousands of miners and micro-enterprises outside formal economic systems.
To address this, the working group proposes a fast-track licensing framework, shared processing hubs, and a dedicated ASM Land Access Framework to ensure security of tenure and prevent conflicts with large licence holders.
Mining-related micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) supplied over N$24 billion in goods and services to the industry in 2024, but continue to face financial and technological barriers. The plan calls for equipment leasing schemes, tax incentives, and performance-based grants to formalise and de-risk small businesses’ participation in the mining supply chain.
Women constitute just 18 per cent of Namibia’s mining workforce, and only 10 per cent have held executive roles since 2009. Awases described this imbalance as both an ethical and economic constraint.
“Empowering women and youth isn’t charity — it’s strategy,” she said. “It’s how Namibia can expand its talent base, boost productivity, and lead Africa in sustainable mining transformation.”
The group recommends setting measurable participation targets for women and youth in apprenticeships and supplier development programmes, and integrating gender-responsive licensing and financing mechanisms into the upcoming ASM and beneficiation strategies.
Simataa and Awases concluded with a joint call for the Cabinet to establish a Multi-Stakeholder Task Force under NDP6 to coordinate reforms, training, and enterprise development across the mining ecosystem.
They urged the Ministries of Mines and Energy, Environment, Finance, and the National Planning Commission to restore policy certainty within six months and present a joint investment plan for corridor infrastructure — covering energy, water, rail, and logistics.
“Namibia has all the right ingredients for a global mining success story,” Simataa said. “What we need now is policy coherence, institutional capacity, and the political will to deliver.”
