The Chamber of Mines (CoM) of Namibia has welcomed cabinet’s decision to prohibit the export of raw minerals from Namibia.
Announcing the cabinet resolutions on Monday, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) said cabinet approved the prohibition for the export of certain critical minerals such as unprocessed crushed lithium ore, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earth elements.
Cabinet, however, also approved that smaller quantities of the above-mentioned minerals may be allowed for export at the discretion of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) subject to Cabinet endorsement.
In a media press release issued on Tuesday, CoM Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Veston Malango, said the chamber wholeheartedly supports local value addition to all minerals produced in Namibia to grow the economy and create jobs.
He noted that it is necessary for Government to control and regulate the export of unprocessed critical minerals to support job creation and grow the economy in line with the African Mining Vision.
“The processing and value addition to all minerals, inclusive of critical minerals, is indeed a widely-held narrative in Namibia.
The Chamber thus recognises that the intention of this directive is to ensure that Namibia does not lose out on any potential local value addition,” he expressed.
The Chamber is however concerned that the requirement for an endorsement by Cabinet on exports of ore in small quantities may unintentionally delay genuine test work being carried out by Chamber members for purposes of critical metallurgical test work required in the design of the much-needed processing plants in Namibia, Malango said.
“In this regard, the Chamber intends to proactively engage the MME so that exports of minerals for such purposes should not be unreasonably delayed,” the CEO noted.
Chamber of Mines President Zebra Kasete on his part expressed that the cabinet directive will not have any immediate repercussions on the future plans of Chamber members, as they all have plans to add value locally to the critical minerals at the concentrate level and retain jobs in Namibia.
“The Chamber will proactively engage Government to collectively identify processing and value addition opportunities for Namibia’s critical minerals,” he stated.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency