Mining for Environmental Sustainability: An Epochal Shift in Namibia
Sustainability is here to stay for a long time, so they say, as several nations on the continent of Africa continue to investigate various methods to access their natural riches for commercial gains. If you would like to observe how the mining industry in Africa has been working to improve environmental sustainability, Namibia is one of the best locations to search. In regulating its mining industry, Namibia is adopting a brave stance by prioritising the wellbeing of its citizens and the environment.
Sustainability is here to stay for a long time, so they say, as several nations on the continent of Africa continue to investigate various methods to access their natural riches for commercial gains. If you would like to observe how the mining industry in Africa has been working to improve environmental sustainability, Namibia is one of the best locations to search. In regulating its mining industry, Namibia is adopting a brave stance by prioritising the wellbeing of its citizens and the environment.
Nomadic people lived in the Namibia with beautiful scenery and rock carvings 15,000 years ago. The explorer Diogo Cão claimed the territory for Portugal in 1488. According to historians, for the next 400 years, the hostile climate, treacherous currents, and intimidating shoreline discouraged seafaring visitors from venturing inland. In 1884, Namibia became the German colony of “South West Africa.” Namibia is already in possession of one of the most extensive geological archives in Africa, including a complete inventory of previous exploration work that stretches back almost a century. By the time Namibia gained its independence in 1990, science had eliminated any doubt about the threat of environmental pollution to life on earth. Environmental law had evolved into a well-recognized body of law.
Achieving a sustainable future is a political choice that requires leadership and cooperation. Though electric cars, wind turbines, and LED lighting all help keep the environment clean, making them can be a dirty business. The high-performance magnets in motors and generators and the glowing phosphors in LEDs and flat screens all depend on substances called rare earth elements (REEs). And capturing REEs from the clay deposits in which many are found requires leaching agents that pollute soil and groundwater, scientists say.
With about 2.5 million people, Namibia’s mining industry produces diamonds, uranium, copper, magnesium, zinc, silver, gold, lead, semi-precious stones, and industrial minerals. In order to promote the optimal exploitation of the country’s mineral resources and integrate the mining industry with other sectors of the economy for the socio-economic development of the country, the Directorate of Mines was set up. On July 8, 2008, Epangelo Mining Company, a private company with the government of the Republic of Namibia as the sole shareholder, was registered to ensure state participation in the mineral resources development, mining, beneficiation, and creation of mining-related employment opportunities for Namibians.
Namibia Rating Action Report By Fitch Ratings, a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary, and research for global capital markets, it was indicated on June 24, 2022, that exports increased by 1.4% in 2021, with diamonds accounting for 19% of total exports, followed by uranium and fish at 15% each. Last year, the country also announced a significant find of REEs on a farm in north-central Namibia. With a proven ore body of 579 million metric tonnes and a cutoff grade of 0.02 to 1.00 percent of REE-bearing materials, prospects seem highly positive.
The country is the second-largest producer of nuclear fuel in the world and, in 2019, granted Russia’s Rosatom subsidiary, One Uranium, exploration rights. After barely three years of signing the deal with Rosatom, the southern African nation has recently halted Russia’s state atomic energy agency’s uranium exploration over concerns about potential contamination of underground water. However, a local subsidiary, One Uranium, still requires a water use permit to begin mining. No further permit would be granted because the method of mining the company proposed, known as “in-situ leaching,” raised environmental concerns, Namibia’s Minister for Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform Calle Schlettwein reckons. He notes that farmers in Namibia’s eastern Omaheke region had petitioned against the technique. Environmental problems during the post-mining phase, according to experts, “have generally been given less attention than those during the operational phase of a mine.” “Protecting human health and the environment is a paramount issue for all.”
Although mining is controlled by the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act, Act 33 of 1992, and is administered by the Directorate of Mines in the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), mineral rights in Namibia vest with the state. Companies and individuals apply to MME for licences to explore for and mine mineral deposits. All large-scale mining is done with long-term mining licenses, whereas small-scale mining can also be done with mining claims. However, when mining on a claim becomes extensive, MME may require the claim holder to convert the claim into a mining licence. While a claim is valid for 3 years and may be renewed, a mining licence is valid for up to 25 years and may also be renewed for shorter periods thereafter.
The law is clear. General Environmental Guidelines for the Mining (Onshore and Offshore) Sector in Namibia state that the country’s Green Plan, which was presented at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, emphasises the reciprocal relationship between environmental health and living standards and the link between the state of the economy and the state of the environment. The Green Plan noted widespread agreement on the need for an EA policy that “ensures that independent environmental impact assessments form part of the pre-feasibility study of all development projects and subjects all such projects to long-term regular environmental monitoring.” In a reference to reducing opportunity costs, the Green Plan states (optimistically) that the government should “permit only those developments that do not restrict the developmental options of future generations of poor people.”
On the current path
“Economic development, guided by a sustainability approach that considers social and environmental priorities, is essential to growing a Namibian society and economy that thrive over the long term,” Heye Daun, Osino’s co-founder, president, and CEO, said while commenting on the 2021 Sustainability Report. Osino Resources is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on exploring and developing the Twin Hills gold discovery in Namibia.
Mine solutions do escape, as Roy Miller, a retired geologist, puts it, because of improper operations, leaks, equipment breakdowns, borehole problems, and geological problems. The spread of mine solutions poses a significant threat to the safety of drinking water well beyond the confines of the mine area. Similarly, an Australia-based company’s executive director, Bruce Lane, notes that “Uranium levels are generally reduced through the mining and extraction process; anything that remains would or should be injected back underground and would in any case be below background (normal) uranium levels and well below any level that would create a hazard.” A report indicated that uranium prospecting in the area could have disastrous consequences because in-situ leaching could contaminate the huge Stampriet artesian basin aquifer, on which the arid south-eastern Kalahari Desert of Namibia and the neighbouring countries of Botswana and South Africa depend.
Namibia, which has a significant lead, is advancing Africa’s mining industry’s environmental sustainability journey. Across the continent, this competition should go on. There are no shortcuts to long-term development.
Writer and researcher at Alafarika for Studies and Consultancy.