Namibia urges foreign miners to build processing plants locally or lose access
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told investors at an Invest Africa gathering that new mining projects must include on-shore processing facilities, warning that failure to do so will drive capital elsewhere.
At an Invest Africa forum on the margins of the UN General Assembly, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah urged prospective investors to establish processing facilities in Namibia rather than merely extracting raw ore for export. She emphasized the country’s status as a major uranium producer with sizable lithium, rare-earth, copper and graphite reserves, and promised stable, long-term partnerships backed by 36 years of post-independence peace.
The president indicated that new legislation will make local partnership mandatory, echoing an empowerment framework first approved in 2015 but stalled over ownership clauses. Since 2021 Namibia has required 15% local ownership for new mining licences, and officials have floated a 51% threshold, though the Chamber of Mines has resisted. Nandi-Ndaitwah framed the policy as a response to a jobs crisis, noting that over 40% of Namibians are unemployed and that the government aims to create 500,000 jobs by 2029.
