MINING AND ENERGY

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has projected that the mining and quarrying sector will expand by 6.9% in 2023 following the sector’s robust growth of 19.7% as a result of higher diamond production in 2022. Growth for 2024 is projected to slow down to 2.7%.

URANIUM

Interruptions of the desalinated water supply to the uranium mines caused by the sporadic high sulphur content of the seawater continued to affect the operation of the mines negatively during 2022. The uranium mining sector is, however, projected to grow by 4.5% in 2023 after contracting by 2.5% in 2022.

Paladin Energy is to restart its Langer Heinrich mine, which was placed on care and maintenance in June 2018 due to the low uranium price, and production is projected to restart in the first quarter of 2024. An increase in the spot price of uranium oxide to between US$65 and US$70 per pound could incentivise the reopening of the Trekkopje mine, which has been under care and maintenance since 2012. Several uranium projects, which were halted due to the fall of uranium prices between 2011 and 2019, could also resume exploration and feasibility studies.

METAL ORES

The metal ores sub-sector is projected to grow by 5.3% in 2023 and 5.4% in 2024 following a contraction of 1.4% in 2022.

In January 2023, Canadian mining company Osino Resources received an environmental clearance certificate, subject to meeting certain conditions, for its Twin Hills gold project. The Twin Hills ore body, which was discovered in August 2019, has proven reserves of 2.15 million ounces. The mine, which has a 13-year life of mine, could go into production towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.

B2Gold Namibia has announced that it would commence with the implementation of its phased mine closure plan at the Otjikoto mine during the first quarter of 2024, due to limited gold deposits in its open-pit mine. The company said the pit would likely reach the end of its life in 2024 and openpit mining would ramp down to 50% capacity. The processing and milling of low-grade stockpiles would continue until approximately 2031, provided it is economically viable. The Wolfshag underground mine, adjacent to the openpit mine, is projected to produce 210,000 ounces from 2022 to 2025.

Gold production increased by 60% from 1,502 kg in 2021 to 2,411 kg in 2022 at QKR’s Navachab mine, southwest of Karibib. Production is projected to increase to over 4,800 kg in 2024.

Canadian copper producer Trigon Metals has recommenced mining at its Kombat copper project after operations were suspended in August 2021. The company expects production to reach levels of of 4.4 million pounds by the end of March 2024 and 6.8 million pounds in the first year of production.

SEARCH FOR LITHIUM

With the growing demand for lithium ion batteries, exploration for lithium and other rare earth minerals in Namibia is set to accelerate in the next few years.

Lithium, tin and tantalum mining company Andrada Mining (formerly AfriTin Mining) produced its first bulk lithium concentrate from its Nai-Nais mine, east of Uis, in May 2023. The construction of the company’s on-site lithium pilot plant, which will accelerate bulk pilot testing and increase pilot production of lithium concentrate, was scheduled to be commissioned in July 2023. The minimum annual targeted production of the pilot plant is 2,400 tonnes with a maximum target of 10,000 tonnes.

Lepidico Chemicals Namibia is continuing with the redevelopment of the open-pit Rubicon and Helikon mines at its Karibib project 30 km southeast of Karibib. In another recent development, Osino Resources announced a new lithium discovery at its Omaruru lithium project.

FRASER INSTITUTE INDEX

Namibia improved its ranking on the overall Investment Attractiveness Index (IAI) of the 2022 Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies by 7 points from 2021 to 2022. The increase on Namibia’s absolute IAI score has been ascribed to an improvement on the Best Practices Mineral Potential Index, which increased by 12 points from 37th in 2021 to 53th in 2022.

The country ranked 38th out of 62 jurisdictions surveyed, compared to 59th out of 84 jurisdictions surveyed in 2021. Namibia ranked 6th out of 16 African jurisdictions surveyed on overall investment attractiveness. The country’s absolute score for policy performance fell by six points from 75 in 2021 to 69 in 2022.

ENERGY

Namibia continues to import between 60% and 70% on its electricity requirements from Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. However, the country’s electricity utility has made great strides in the generation of renewable energy with independent power producers now generating 9% of Nampower’s total electricity output.

Nampower inaugurated its first fully-owned and operated solar voltaic power plant, the 20MW Omburu plant, in June 2022. Two other planned renewable energy projects will also be owned and operated by Nampower: the 58MW Omburu battery storage system and the 40MW Otjikoto biomass project. The 20MW Khan solar photovoltaic project and the 50MW Lüderitz wind power project will be developed by independent power producers.

THE SEARCH FOR “BLACK GOLD”

TotalEnergies and Shell have expanded their search for offshore oil in the Orange Basin following the discovery of several light oil and associated gas fields in the basin in 2022 and 2023.

TotalEnergies has announced that it would use half of its US$500 million (N$5 billion) global exploration budget for 2023 on appraising its Venus discovery. The company will also start a multi-drilling exploration and appraisal programme in mid-2023.

In March 2023, Shell announced a new discovery of light oil in a deep-water exploration well, Jonker-1X, following the Graff-1 discovery in February 2022 and the La Rona-1 discovery in April 2022. The company plans to drill up to ten more exploration and appraisal wells.

The discoveries could potentially deliver about 6.5 billion barrels of oil and earn the government about a N$60 billion in royalties and taxes. However, analysts have cautioned that production could take between six and eight years if the finds are economically viable.

GREEN HYDROGEN

The Feasibility and Implementation Agreement (FIA) between the Namibian government and Hyphen Hydrogen Energy for the planned N$170-billion green hydrogen project was signed on 26 May 2023.

The government announced in June 2023 that it would acquire a 24% stake in the project at historical cost through SDG Namibia One Fund, a newly established sovereign wealth fund. Namibia’s Green Hydrogen Commissioner, James Mnyupe, said the fund would secure €40 million (N$800 million) to acquire the shares and for various other projects through Dutch company Invest International.

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