By Emilia Mbishi
Windhoek, 22 Nov. – The minister of mines and energy Hon. Tom Alweendo yesterday told parliament some of the problems related to the conduct of Chinese company Xinfeng Investment Ltd in Namibia.
The company had made controversial headlines over the past few months in relation to its controversial acquisition of mineral licences and export of lithium ore to China.
The minister said the company’s activities were clouded in secrecy and not paying what was due to the government.
Alweendo said for him to understand the controversial issues he visited the mine near Omaruru as well as their warehouse at Walvis bay. He discovered that the company had exported 75 000 tonnes of ore and was still to export another by 29 November under the permit they were granted.
The minister blamed some of the ministry officials for the loopholes in the licenses that allow the Chinese to export more lithium ore than would have been required for testing samples.
In the statement the minister said the company had received prospecting license EPL722 8 in October 2022. In August 2022 the company was awarded a mining license ML243 saying they would statrt mining operations in 2024 after setting up a plant, but instead started soon after they had received their licence.
The minister also said they had introduced more stringent measures for application of prospecting and mining licences to prevent people who did not have the capacity to develop a mine from acquiring licences that they sell to foreign exploration companies.
The Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the ministry officials over allegations that they accepted bribes to facilitate Xinfeng Investment to acquire lincences.
The Xinfeng is said to have bought a licence which was illegally obtained from a man while the true owner was in the hospital, a source revealed.
The mining sector remains the biggest contributor to Namibia’s gross domestic product ranging from 10-15% in 2021.
