Search

Mining activity also involves the payment of a labour profit share, as well as royalties, advance royalties and annual conservation licence fees. (...)

Namibia's minerals policy, launched in 2003, aims, inter alia, to attract investment in the sector, while ensuring the responsible development and sustainable utilization of mineral resources.

Mining operations have an adverse impact on the protection of natural resources. The gold, bauxite and diamond industry has dangerously affected plant cover and water and soil resources, through various types of pollution and disruption. Small-scale gold mining continues to inflict enormous damage on forest cover, the soil and the subsoil, even to the extent of causing water resources to dry up. In view of the harm and risks, and if the current trend is not reversed, Guinea could seriously compromise the balance of its water systems to the detriment of its own population, present or future.

Under Decision No. 2427 of 2011, the national strategy provides, inter alia, for: non- renewable mineral resources to be managed, protected, exploited and used rationally; survey and evaluation of mineral resources to be implemented in advance to permit efficient planning; exploration and mining to be associated with the potential for processing and use of each type of mineral, in light of the needs of all economic sectors; for large-scale deposits of minerals, only processed products with high economic value to be exported; and international cooperation to be utilized to access scientific knowledge and environmentally friendly technologies. The strategy focuses on: coal, uranium, metals, non-metals, construction materials, natural thermal water, mineral water, oil, and gas. It also provides guidelines in several specific areas of regulation, i.e. management and planning, science and technology, finance, and environmental protection.

Under the new Mining Code, exploration permits are granted to persons who can show that they have an environmental mitigation and rehabilitation plan

The following strategies have been proposed to achieve such targets: (…) provide a simple and effective regulatory and policy framework to keep industry compliance costs to a minimum, to protect the environment (...)

The Government's objective is the sustainable development of the mining potential and the products of small mines and quarries (for public works and construction) through the development of a phosphate and bauxite mine by 2025; the creation of a supportive framework for small-scale mining and quarrying; and the creation of 10,000 jobs in extraction – all within a framework of compliance with environmental standards. The aim is thus to triple the sector's value added (from CFAF 12 billion in 2013 to CFAF 36 billion in 2025).

Although mining and quarrying represented only 3.5% of GDP, the sector is very important to the economy as it provided 47% of exports in 2017 (including exports of non-monetary gold). (…) Companies mining metal ores and producers of metal ore concentrates and smelting products are required to pay royalties and make payments into the nature and environment preservation fund.

The Ministry of Mining relies on the Chilean Copper Commission (COCHILCO) for proposing policies for the sustainable development of the mining sector.

The Government has also adopted legislation needed for the implementation of the Mining Code, which is intended to attract private investment, streamline the management of environmental and social impact assessments, and enhance public disclosure. Furthermore, the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Amendment to Mining Code (2016) are intended to help set standards for responsible mining, to better align the industry with global environmental practices. (...)