Business Reporter
“AS a company trying to develop the project, simply put, we want a clear directive on whether or not we can progress with the development of phosphate in Namibia. The three key ministries, fisheries, mines and environment have not come to a joint agreement on this,”.
The above are the words of Mike Woodborne, the Chief Operating Officer of the Namibia Marine Phosphate Project “Sandpiper” which briefed the parliamentary committee on Natural Resources on 31 October 2023.
Woodborne said that Since 2013, a moratorium was placed on issuing environmental clearance corticates on industrial minerals mining including phosphate. “It lapsed in 2015, however, the environmental commissioner has said that it is still to be consulted on and agreed on. This is the issue we have been facing and affecting the duration of the process we have been going through with regards to waiting on our environmental clearance certificate,” Woodborne said.
The Sandpiper project introduced in 2011, and which aims to produce fertilizers by mining phosphate out of the seabed has been on hold due to court processes and environmentalist’s apprehension towards the project due to its potential impact on the ocean bed and fishing industry as well as the fact that many countries have turned it down. According to studies, if Sandpiper is given the go-ahead, it would employ over 600 Namibians (directly and indirectly), spend an estimated N$1 billion on civil and local infrastructure; require a capital investment of N$5,2 billion for the development; expect an annual revenue of N$4,2 billion; contribute direct taxes of N$650 million a year; and contribute royalties of N$78 million a year.
In 2020 the High Court upheld the validity of the mining license, albeit numerous concerns especially from the fishing industry. As such, the company, has applied for a new Environmental Clearance Certificate to mine phosphate in the ocean in October 2022. Woodborne explained that the Environmental Commissioner is considering the application in conjunction with three external reviews by experts. He added that 28 expert studies have been conducted.
“The concerns of the commercial fishing industry have been paramount…Most experts worked in the Benguela ecosystems. The external reviewer used to asses has international standing, and has 50 years of experience. We are confident that the very best knowledge has been applied to assess impact on marine environment and fishing industry,” Woodborne said, adding that five additional studies have been conducted on the project since 2018.
He further added that the projects hosts about 1.6 billion tons of phosphate which is the largest undeveloped phosphate deposit in the world. “This is not a resource that will be diminished and utilized in the short term. It has 50 to 100 years worth of deposits,” Woodborne said.
He added that the proposed scale of operations covers 2 233 square kilometres, however only 34 square kilometres will be mined in the first 20 years. A total of 1.7 square kilometres of the seabed will be affected annually.
Woodborne said that this is less than 1% of the total mining license area. He further said that the project sits in 200 metre zone and does not arch out of 200 metre zone and does not go outside to the areas of the commercial catch areas identified by the Ministry of Fisheries.
“The current marine diamond mining industry has five vessels and impacts 15 square kilometres a year. There are 98 bottom trawlers that fish from border to border. These have a greater impact on the seabed as they cover a larger area. Fisheries have kept records on the disturbance of the seabed. The seabed does recover over time, from 3 to 16 years depending on water depth. The bottom line is that it recovers,” Woodborne said.
He added that as far as this project goes, it is touted as a risk based on the fact that it is the first-ever exposure to marine mining of phosphate. “Mining is an action to recover material and extract the mineral of value. In this instance Dredging is used. Dredging is also used for marine mining… This process does not pose any risks, in terms of scale of operation, the nature of the material and the amount of plume released,” Woodborne concluded.
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