Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has applauded Namdeb for the efforts it has put in place to extend the life of the mine for another 20 years.

Nandi-Ndaitwah was in Oranjemund on a familiarisation visit.

A new mining concept, in which Namdeb is mining on the land under the sea by moving the ocean backwards, was adopted by Namdeb.

The mine is utilising beach accretion, and the use of this method has added an additional lifespan to the mine.

The accretion method was born after the mining of diamonds on land was exhausted, threatening the life of the mine and the livelihoods of almost 3,000 employees and their dependents.

"By using the current technology and all the skills that are available, they informed the government that they were trying to see how they could prolong the life of the mine. And now I have seen how they have prolonged it, which is simply to claim the land from the sea by creating what they are calling the new land, or the beach, they call it a beach. And then, from there, they will be able to reach the seabed at the level they can reach. And that's how they are prolonging the life of the mine for the next 20 years. So at least for the next 20 years, first we have something getting into our economy through the sale of our diamond, and we have people who are employed in this Namdeb operation. So that is very, very important, and we appreciate it a lot." 

The Vice President says that diamonds play a critical role in the development of Namibia.

She encouraged the leadership to explore alternative measures that will enable the mine to operate and extract the precious mineral beyond 2042.

"They have to think now what will happen after 20 years, because technology is also developing, and we must always try to get alternatives so that we cannot have people on the street. And you remember, you know that any person losing a job is so many people affected, because they are supporting quite a lot of people whom they are feeding, whom they are sending to school, and some helping others even to make their own businesses so they can create jobs. So I'm really impressed to see how we are claiming land from the sea and the operation itself, how the diamond is being discovered, which is under the sea."

The mine has about 3,000 employees, and of this number, 171 are employed on fixed-term contracts.

Nandi-Ndaitwah raised concern regarding the job security of those who are not employed permanently.

"Of course, I expressed my concern about the well-being of those people. They informed me they have all the benefits, which is the benefit of the permanent workers, which is that they have medical aid and a pension. But the pension, when you work, for example, they were saying, normally the work that is required for 18 months is really not so helpful as such, but it's better than nothing. And that is why I say that they really have to make a thorough analysis of their operation so that they will not keep renewing but rather see this as a permanent job. Or even to have a cut-off point to say that if really this person stays for, like they say, 18 months. So after 18 months, they say that normally they consider them to be moved up into permanent employment.