President Nangolo Mbumba has said that for Namibia to get a bigger share of its mineral wealth, its citizens must be properly trained and actively involved in mining operations.

During his visit to the Ministry of Mines and Energy here on Monday, Mbumba expressed the importance of encouraging young people to pursue critical courses that would enable them to participate in the mining sector.

‘Those of you close to those who are still attending universities, they must really study difficult things. It is not enough just to learn the easier things. To get minerals out of the ground, it is not a joke. To get petroleum out of the ground, which is under the sea, is not a joke. It demands the real people who think and are determined,’ he said during the meeting with the senior management of the ministry.

‘We are talking about wanting a bigger share of our resources. Yes the resources are yours but you only benefit once it is out of the ground. So unless you have enough people who are involved in these mining proj
ects – digging and processing – your share will definitely be small.’

Mbumba also reminded the executives of the Ministry of Mines and Energy that they have an important responsibility to oversee the national wealth.

‘You as officials, you are holding the value and the wealth of the nation. Your behaviour will determine whether our country will develop and will not develop,’ said the Head of State.

On his part, Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo said mining continues to be one of the most important sectors of the economy.

The minister told the president that it is the ministry’s mandate to ensure the continued importance of the mining sector. ‘We are preoccupied with figuring out how we accelerate the finding of minerals, because if we don’t find minerals, we will never have mines,’ said the minister.

Alweendo also said that the ministry is actively promoting value-addition in the mineral sector. ‘I think you all recall last year when we decided not to allow the exportation of some of the critical mi
nerals to be exported in raw form but rather to be value added before they are exported. That is something we are critically looking at and making sure that mining still takes place, but we are also adding value to those minerals,’ he said.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency