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Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

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scale; and the exclusive reconnaissance license that obtains exclusivity to the<br />

area for the operator for the duration of the license. She also said that these<br />

licenses vary in duration from 6 months to three years. As regards the mining<br />

license, Ms. Zaamwani said that its tenure is either determined by the life of<br />

the deposit or 25 years whichever is relevant.<br />

To cater to a situation where the development of a deposit is affected<br />

by a drop in the market price for the commodity to be produced from it, Ms.<br />

Zaamwani said that under Namibian law, a mineral deposit retention license<br />

is offered. With this law, rather than the loss of the deposit, the contractor gets<br />

to keep the deposit for a period of 5 years while the market is improving or<br />

whatever the circumstances are that created the force majeure are being<br />

addressed. Ms. Zaamwani said that at the present time, the Ministry of Mines<br />

and Energy of Namibia has issued a total of 404 exclusive prospecting<br />

licenses. She said that of this number, 239 are for diamonds of which 127 are<br />

offshore licenses. She remarked that was a very significant number, given the<br />

size of Namibia’s population and the fact that other kinds of licenses have also<br />

been issued.<br />

Ms. Zaamwani said that exclusive prospecting licenses provide the<br />

contractor certain rights and obligations. She said that one of the contractor’s<br />

obligations is to carry out prospecting work in the licensed area.<br />

Ms. Zaamwani said that a holder of a prospecting license has the right<br />

to minerals found during prospecting. She said a holder of a prospecting<br />

license could have this license for one or more types of mineral commodities,<br />

except for diamonds as well as base metals. She said that the commodities<br />

have to be won from a single type of mineral deposit. She said that a work<br />

programme, which is submitted along with the application, forms the basis<br />

for prospecting work. Ms. Zaamwani said that the minimum expenditure is<br />

based on the amount of work specified in the three-year exploration<br />

programme. She said that it is very important for holders of prospecting<br />

licenses to strictly adhere to good prospecting and mining practices,<br />

particularly in the diamond industry where “high grading” is a big<br />

temptation for investors who may wish to recover their investment quickly.<br />

She also said that “high grading” is against Namibian law and that it could<br />

result in the loss of one’s license.<br />

INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 777

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