Parts: I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - VIII - IX - X - XI - XII - XIII - XIV - XV - XVI - XVII

PART I Introductory provisions

  1. Definitions.
 

In this Act unless the context indicates otherwise -

"accessory works" means any building, plant or other structure required for purposes of reconnaissance operations, prospecting operations or mining operations or for the disposal of any mineral or group of minerals won or mined in the course of any such operations, or is connected with such operations or disposal, including -

  1. any power plant, transmission line or substation;
  2. any water borehole, well, pipe-line, drilling rig, pump station, tank or dam;
  3. any airfield, helicopter landing-pad, road, gate, rail or railway siding;
  4. any workshop, hangar, store or office;
  5. any explosives magazine;
  6. any sampling plant, processing plant, smelter or refinery whether erected on land or constructed on any vehicle or vessel;
  7. any waste disposal site; or
  8. any camp site or temporary or permanent residential area;

"accredited agent" means a person designated in accordance with the provisions of section 121 as the accredited agent for the holder of a non-exclusive licence, mining claim or mineral licence, as the case may be;

"base and rare metals group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals containing the elements specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1;

"board" means the Minerals Board of Namibia established by section 9;

"claim" means an area of land which has been pegged as a claim in accordance with the provisions of Part VI;

"claim area" means the area of land of a mining claim;

"Commission" means the Minerals Ancillary Rights Commission established by section 108;

"Commissioner" means the Mining Commissioner appointed under section 4(1);

"company" means -

  1. (a) a company as defined in section 1 of the Companies Act 1973 (Act 61 of 1973), including an external company as so defined to which a certificate of registration has been issued in terms of section 322(2) of that Act; or
  2. (b) a juristic person established by or under any law in force in Namibia;

"controlled mineral" means any mineral specified in the nuclear fuel minerals group, the precious metals group and the precious stones group, and any other mineral declared under subsection (3)(a) to be a controlled mineral;

"dimension stone group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals containing rock material specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1;

"excavation" means any trench, pit, shaft or other open or underground working made in the course of prospecting operations or mining operations, as the case may be, excluding any superficial excavations made for purposes of geochemical soil and rock sampling;

"exclusive prospecting licence" means an exclusive prospecting licence issued under section 70 and includes the renewal of any such licence;

"good mining practices", "good prospecting practices" or "good reconnaissance practices" means any practices which are generally accepted by persons involved in mining operations, prospecting operations or reconnaissance operations, as the case may be, in other countries of the world as good, safe and necessary in carrying out any such operations in relation to a mineral or a group of minerals;

"group", in relation to minerals, means the precious metals group, the base and rare metals group, the precious stones group, the semi-precious stones group, the industrial minerals group, the dimension stone group, the non-nuclear fuel minerals group or the nuclear fuel minerals group;

"high value mineral" means an unwrought precious metal and a rough and uncut emerald, ruby or sapphire, and any other mineral declared under subsection (3)(b) to be a high value mineral;

"industrial minerals group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals specified in Part 3 of Schedule 1;

"land" includes the sea and the seabed within the territorial sea referred to in section 2 of the Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone of Namibia Act, 1990 (Act 3 of 1990), the exclusive economic zone referred to in section 4 of that Act and the continental shelf referred to in section 6 of that Act, and land beneath any other water, and the subsoil of land;

"mine" means -

  1. when used as a noun, any place where mining operations are or have been carried on, and includes any excavation or accessory works which is or are necessary for, or incidental to, such mining operations; or
  2. when used as a verb, means any operations calculated to win any mineral or group of minerals from a mine or from any ore won from a mine, and includes any operations which are necessary for, or incidental to, such operations, and "mining" shall have a corresponding meaning;

"mineral" means any substance, whether in solid, liquid or gaseous form, occurring naturally in, on or under any land and having been formed by, or subjected to, a geological process, excluding -

  1. water, not being water taken from land or from the sea for the extraction therefrom of a mineral or a group of minerals;
  2. petroleum, as defined in section I of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production Act), 1991 (Act 2 of 1991); or
  3. subject to the provisions of subsection (2), soil, sand, clay, gravel or stone (other than rock material specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1) if they are bona fide required for purposes of -
  1. agriculture, building works, fencing or road making;
  2. the manufacture of bricks and tiles;
  3. the construction of sports fields, airfields, railways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, weirs, canals or other irrigation works; or
  4. any other purpose defined by the Minister by notice in the Gazette;

"mineral agreement" means an agreement entered into in terms of section 49;

"mineral deposit retention licence" means a mineral deposit retention licence issued under section 81 and includes the renewal of such licence;

"mineral licence" means a reconnaissance licence, an exclusive prospecting licence, a mining licence or a mineral deposit retention licence and includes the renewal of any such licence;

"mining area" means the area of land to which a mining licence relates;

"mining claim" means a claim registered under section 36 and includes the renewal of the registration of any such claim;

"mining licence" means a mining licence issued under section 93 and includes the renewal of any such licence;

"mining operations" means any operations carried on in connection with mining;

"Minister" means the Minister of Mines and Energy;

"non-exclusive prospecting licence" means a non-exclusive prospecting licence issued under section 21 and includes the renewal of any such licence;

"non-nuclear fuel minerals group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals specified in Part 4 of Schedule 1;

"nuclear fuel minerals group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals specified in Part 5 of Schedule 1;

"officer" means an officer or employee as defined in section 1 of the Public Service Act, 1980 (Act 2 of 1980);

"owner" means -

  1. the person in whose name any private land is registered in the Deeds Registry, and includes -
  1. if the owner of such land is deceased, the executor of his or her estate;
  2. if the estate of the owner of such land has been sequestrated, the trustee of his or her estate;
  3. if the owner of such land is a company which has been wound up, the liquidator of such company;
  4. if the owner of such land is under a legal disability, his or her legal representative;
  5. if such land has been attached in terms of an order of a court of law, he sheriff or deputy sheriff; or
  6. the person who has been authorized in writing by the owner to act on behalf of such owner for purposes of the provisions of this Act;
  1. a lessee of land owned by the State, but does not include the holder of any grazing rights in, on or in respect of any such land;

"Permanent Secretary" means the Permanent Secretary: Mines and Energy;

"precious metals group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals containing the elements specified in Part 6 of Schedule 1;

"precious stones group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals specified in Part 7 of Schedule 1;

"private land" means land other than State land, including land leased from the State if the lessee of such land has exercised his or her option to purchase such land;

"prospecting" means intentionally 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 mineral or group of minerals, but does not include "mining";

"prospecting area" means the area of land to which an exclusive prospecting licence relates;

"prospecting operations" means any operations carried on in connection with prospecting, including any accessing, extraction or incidental winning of any mineral or group of minerals for the purposes of mineralogical examination, assaying, testwork or marketability surveys;

"reconnaissance area" means an area of land to which a reconnaissance licence relates;

"reconnaissance licence" means a licence issued under section 62 and includes the extension of such licence;

"reconnaissance operations" means any operations carried on in a general search for any mineral or group of minerals by means of aerial sensing techniques, including geophysical surveys, photogeological mapping or imagery carried on from the air, and "reconnaissance" shall have a corresponding meaning;

"retention area" means an area of land to which a mineral deposit retention licence relates;

"semi-precious stones group" means, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), a group of minerals specified in Part 8 of Schedule 1;

"unwrought precious metal" means any unmanufactured metal consisting of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, osmium, rhodium, iridium and ruthenium in the form of bars, ingots, buttons, wire, plate, granules or in solution or in any other form whatsoever, or any article or substance containing such precious metal, or any article consisting of or containing such precious metal which although manufactured is not as such an article of commerce or a work of art or an article of archaeological interest;

"waste" means any waste rock, tailings, slimes or other residue derived from any prospecting operations, mining operations or processing of any mineral or group of minerals.

  1. The Minister may, if he or she is on reasonable grounds satisfied that at any place or on any land in Namibia, soil, sand, clay, gravel or stone (other than rock material specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1) is won or mined by any person for purposes of the disposal of such soil, sand, clay, gravel or stone to any other person for profit or for use in the course of any business or undertaking, by notice in the Gazette declare that any provision of this Act specified in such notice shall apply, subject to such conditions, limitations or exceptions, if any, as may be specified in such notice, to such soil, sand, clay, gravel or stone at such place or on such land specified in such notice as if such soil, sand, clay, gravel or stone were a mineral.
  2. The Minister may, if he or she deems it desirable in the interests of the development or the protection of the mineral resources in Namibia, at any time by notice in the Gazette declare -
  1. any mineral other than a diamond to be a controlled mineral;
  2. any mineral other than a diamond to be a high value mineral.
  1. If for purposes of any provision of this Act any dispute arises as to the question whether any mineral falls within any group of minerals, the Minister shall have the power to determine in which group of minerals such mineral shall fall for such purposes, and any such determination shall be final.