Namibia's World-class Mining Industry
The Chamber of Mines of Namibia represents the interests of all the major mining and exploration companies active in the country. With 78 members (as at December 2, 2009) from an industry that makes up 15.8 % of Namibia's Gross Domestic Product and 61 % (2008) of merchandise exports, the Chamber brings together a wide variety of companies from the most important sector of the Namibian economy and represents the industry in its dealings with Government and other stakeholders. Namibia is a world-class producer of rough diamonds, uranium oxide, special high-grade zinc and acid-grade fluorspar as well as a producer of gold bullion, blister copper, lead & zinc concentrate and salt.
A number of world-class companies using state-of-the-art mining and processing technologies are members of the Chamber. Rio Tinto plc and Anglo American plc, the world's second- and third-largest mining companies produce uranium oxide at Rössing mine and special high-grade zinc at Skorpion mine and refinery. The world's number one diamond producer, De Beers, works with the Government of Namibia through Namdeb, in a 50:50 joint venture and produced 2.13 million carats in 2008 of the world's finest gem diamonds. Increasingly, more of Namdeb's output comes from under the sea, thanks to the technical expertise of De Beers Marine Namibia. Lev Leviev operates a diamond-mining company, Samicor, as well as a diamond-cutting and polishing factory LLD in Namibia.
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