Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is telling foreign critical-mineral investors to build processing plants in the country and says a local-partnership requirement is being put into law. New mining licenses have required 15% local ownership since 2021.
Namibia is a major uranium producer and also has deposits of lithium, rare earths, copper and graphite. Officials floated raising local ownership requirements for new mining licenses to 51% last year, drawing pushback from the Chamber of Mines. A broader empowerment bill approved by cabinet in 2015 was intended to become law by 2018 but stalled over a clause requiring businesses owned by previously advantaged Namibians to transfer 25% to previously disadvantaged citizens. The clause was dropped in 2018, and officials described the bill as at an “advanced stage” last October.
Nandi-Ndaitwah says more than 40% of the country’s people are unemployed. She won the presidency in 2024 on a pledge to spend 85 billion Namibian dollars (about $5 billion) to create 500,000 jobs by 2029.
