Petroleum / Mining in Namibia
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BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04
Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1.
Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year.
The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
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NAMIBIA, 2016/07/26
The Namibian joint-venture of Anglo American’s diamond subsidiary De Beers, Debmarine, on Monday took possession of its sixth mining and exploration vessel SS Nujoma.
The R2.3bn vessel was built by Norwegian shipbuilders Kleven Verft.
“Our Debmarine Namibia crew will sail the vessel from Norway to Cape Town, leaving later this week, and arriving in late August,” Debmarine project chief Michael Curtis said in a statement on Monday.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11
Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
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NAMIBIA, 2014/11/20
Swapo candidate for the National Assembly Engel Nawatiseb says profits from natural resources in the Oshikoto Region should as well benefit the San communities in the region.
Nawatiseb, who is the former mayor of Tsumeb, said mining and smelting companies at Tsumeb have established community trust funds that mostly benefit local companies and SMEs from the town.
He stressed that company policies which influence the modus operandi of the respective trust funds should make provision to empower initiatives of the San since they are the original inhabitants who along with Ondonga traders smelted and traded copper ore and related products at Lake Otjikoto.
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BOTSWANA, 2012/12/25
World gas request is projected to reach 3,460.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 3,341.4 bcm in 2012. North America's gas consumption is estimate to reach 890.3 bcm in 2013, equivalent to 25.7% of world request. It would be followed by Asia & Australia with 720.8 bcm (20.8%), Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States with 587.4 bcm (17%), Western Europe with 533 bcm (15.4%), the Middle East with 445.7 bcm (12.9%),
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NAMIBIA, 2012/10/29
Despite a slow start because of problems surrounding the recommissioning of the Elizabeth Mine, year to date diamond output has increased significantly.
Figures released by the central bank this week show that almost 1.2 million carats have been produced in the first nine months up from 987,000 carats in the same period last year.
To date, 1.22 million carats worth N$5.7 billion have been exported compared to 895,000 carats worth N$3.8 billion in the corresponding period in 2011.
