{"id":39766,"date":"2023-02-20T12:03:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law"},"modified":"2023-02-20T12:07:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:07:46","slug":"mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law","title":{"rendered":"Mines minister pushes original mining law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>THE Ministry of Mines and Energy has given locals who have applied for exclusive prospecting licences (EPL) until 24 February to prove they have the financial means to conduct exploration activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMME License Notification: Please submit proof of financial resources for exclusive prospecting licence on or before 24 February,\u201d a message sent to applicants on 15 February reads.<\/p>\n

This applies to all last year’s EPL licence applicants.<\/p>\n

The move was initiated in 2018 by mines minister Tom Alweendo.<\/p>\n

At the time, Alweendo said it was meant to attract more investors and to grow the mining sector so that it can meaningfully contribute to Namibia’s socio-economic development.<\/p>\n

At the time, Chamber of Mines president Zebra Kasete also welcomed the move, saying preferential conditions in exploration for Namibians were not practical and were retrogressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot empower previously disadvantaged Namibians with debt. [It] defeats the purpose. Exploration is high-risk, with no guarantee of the discovery of a deposit. It is therefore high-risk debt,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

By enforcing this, the ministry is overturning former minister of mines Errki Nghimtina’s rule which relaxed the law to allow more Namibians to participate in mineral exploration.<\/p>\n

According to the Minerals Act, one has to demonstrate financial and technical capacity to be granted an EPL.<\/p>\n

This was relaxed by Nghimtina when the government realised the law, when applied directly, only benefitted foreign companies, because Namibians could not meet the financial requirements.<\/p>\n

Through this policy, Namibians had up to three years to find partners for exploration. After three years, EPL licences that yielded nothing were not likely to be renewed.<\/p>\n

Exploration projects require millions before they can enter the mining phase. However, this policy has led to many speculators acquiring EPLs, excluding those with the means to mine.<\/p>\n

Investors who want to buy licences from Namibians are charged exorbitant prices.<\/p>\n

There is also a policy that gives preferential treatment to exploration and mining firms of which the management teams constitute at least 20% of previously disadvantaged Namibians.<\/p>\n

Another is that such companies are at least 5% owned by Namibians.<\/p>\n

Alweendo removed the 5% requirement when he took over the ministry.<\/p>\n

This has made it possible for foreign investors to directly apply for EPLs and have 100% ownership.<\/p>\n

In 2022 Alweendo started pushing for the original law to be applied.<\/p>\n

Ministry sources say the management team is not in agreement with the move, claiming it would impact companies which have already commenced with exploration activities.<\/p>\n

Ministry spokesperson Andreas Simon has not responded to questions sent to him by the time of going to print.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Ministry of Mines and Energy has given locals who have applied for exclusive prospecting licences (EPL) until 24 February to prove they have the financial means to conduct exploration activities. \u201cMME License Notification: Please submit proof of financial resources for exclusive prospecting licence on or before 24 February,\u201d a message sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-39766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nMines minister pushes original mining law - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE Ministry of Mines and Energy has given locals who have applied for exclusive prospecting licences (EPL) until 24 Feb ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mines minister pushes original mining law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE Ministry of Mines and Energy has given locals who have applied for exclusive prospecting licences (EPL) until 24 Feb ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-20T12:03:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-20T12:07:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676882008.00.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mines minister pushes original mining law\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-20T12:03:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-20T12:07:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676882008.00.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mines-minister-pushes-original-mining-law\",\"name\":\"Mines minister pushes original mining law - 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