Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

hydrates. His written paper contains the various statistical information and
data.
He stated that whatever the potential worth of non-living resources in
the extended legal continental shelf regions around the world, with the
exception of conventional gas and oil and possibly gas hydrates, these
resources will remain unrecoverable until technology advances to enable
access to resources to be found at significant water depths, and when
economic conditions make the recovery and production of these resources
competitive with land-based resources. He was of the view that identification
of the resources is one thing, but calibration and quantification in terms of
sampling is a different matter.
18. Status report of the data and information requirements of Namibia’s
offshore diamonds industry
Ms. Inge Zaamwani, Managing Director of Namdeb Diamond
Corporation of Namibia gave a Status Report on the data and reporting
requirements of Namibia’s offshore diamond mining industry. She gave a
brief account of the geological situation of Namibia, the political framework
and the offshore mineral resource potential. The main legislative framework
she informed participants, is the Namibian Minerals Act. She mentioned that
like Papua New Guinea and Brazil, the Namibian Act makes no distinction
between prospecting and exploration, whether onshore or offshore.
Ms. Zaamwani reported that the Namibian Minerals Act covers the
three main mining phases- namely, reconnaissance, prospecting and mining.
She said that prospecting is defined as the “intentional searching whether by
way of excavations or otherwise for any mineral or group of minerals with a
view to delineating or evaluating deposits or concentrations of any such
minerals or group of minerals but does not include mining”. Prospecting
licenses may be non-exclusive or exclusive. She also said that normally,
prospectors could apply for an Exclusive Prospecting Licence, which is
granted for an initial period of three years with a right to renewal for a further
period not exceeding two years at a time. Currently, in Namibia 404
Exclusive Prospecting Licences have been issued. Of these, 239 were for
diamonds, with 127 of them being for offshore areas.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 59