namibia

I noticed some articles over the last week suggesting that Namibia are moving towards nationalising strategic mineral assets. Thinking that might be a bit of a threat I have called Chris Jordinson to get his position.

Chris says there is not problem for us. What the Namibian govt has done is create a govt owned mining company which will have a stake in strategic assets - a bit like Oilsearch in PNG I guess. The two important things to note are that no existing licenses will be affected ie only for new exploration discoveries. Secondly phosphate is not one of the targeted strategic minerals (uranium is hence pressure on Paladin recently).

It's probably not a very clever way for the Namibians to gain greater equity for their people in the mining boom. I support the idea that nations should be able to enjoy the increased value of assets in booms but as equity partners they'll be participating in the losers as much as the winners. Given the vast majority of exploration goes nowhere this doesn't seem a smart thing for the people, a rent tax would be smarter but that's their problem.

I also asked Chris about general progress. He is very pleased where things are at, all aspects are moving along smoothly ie DFS underway, environmental studies progressing etc. There will be progress updates in due course.