Too late to appeal against phosphate mining

ELLANIE SMIT

Although the green light for marine phosphate mining only became public knowledge this week, the window for objecting to it closed last month already.

The environmental clearance certificate for Namibia Marine Phosphate’s Sandpiper Project was issued on 5 September and affected parties had only 14 days to appeal the decision.

However, the public was not aware that the environmental clearance had been granted and it only came to light this week when the media reported on the issue after the letter began circulating on social media.

The minister of environment and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, said yesterday that the appropriate action would be taken if an appeal was made. However, it came to light that in accordance with the law the time to appeal had lapsed.

Shifeta said although affected parties may still ask for condonation, they will have to give very good reasons why they missed the deadline for the appeal.

He added that the first point of appeal is to the ministry and only then can an appeal be made to the courts.

Environmental commissioner Theofilus Nghitila explained that his office does not send the clearance certificate to anybody but the applicant, but added that affected parties could call his office and ask for information about the environmental clearance.

He said they are working on an online system where such documents would be more accessible to the public, which could be ready before the end of the year.

Shifeta said neither the minister nor the cabinet have the power to interfere with Nghitila’s work.

Shifeta said he could only interfere if there was a defect in the process and an appeal was made.

“I can adjudicate when there has been procedural error, but not when people are toyi-toying and making uninformed statements.”

He said the cabinet cannot stop the legal process unless the law is amended.

“Then the law has to be amended that Nghitila cannot in certain instances issue these certificates on his own,” he said.

Shifeta also said that the Ministry of Mines and Energy had granted two licences for offshore phosphate mining before the Environmental Management Act came into force.

“This was given prior to the law and we cannot now use the Act to suffocate these licences, then it should be withdrawn by the mines ministry. We do not act according to emotions and belief, but science.”

He said it took years before clearance was given and that the ministry cannot delay reports without justification, otherwise the government would be held responsible.

Nghitila insisted that his office looks only at environmental assessments reports. “We do not look at the shareholders. We are blind to that.”

Local businessman Knowledge Katti is a minority shareholder in the Sandpiper Project spearheaded by Omani tycoon Mohammed Al Barwani, through his company Mawarid Mining LLC, which holds 85% of shares in Namibia Marine Phosphate (NMP).

It was pointed out that it might take years before mining starts, since NMP still has to identify a site for processing and then obtain environmental clearance for that.

Referring to worries that seabed mining would harm the fishing industry, Nghitila said offshore diamond mining has been taking place for years without affecting fisheries.

“The depth of digging is about three kilometres over a one-kilometre distance. How will this impact the fish? The phosphate is not radioactive like it will spread to the entire Atlantic. The site is 125km from Walvis Bay. People should really contextualise what they are saying,” Nghitila said.

Shifeta added that dredging the seabed for phosphate is not much different from marine diamond mining.

“Phosphate mining is a fear because it is not done anywhere else and we believe it can be done.”

The first environmental impact assessment on the Sandpiper Project was sent back to the company and upon receiving the second one the ministry ordered that a verification study be done.

A six-month verification study was then undertaken in 2014 and this report, along with an updated environmental management plan and an independent peer review were submitted to the ministry.

Nghitila said these reports were also submitted to the fisheries ministry and meetings were held to address any further questions. Furthermore, several consultative meetings were held with all affected parties.

In response to fisheries minister Bernardt Esau’s statement expressing shock about the environmental clearance being granted without his ministry’s input, Katti yesterday posted on Facebook several documents which he claimed proved that the fisheries ministry was involved in the entire process.