The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources has called on the Ministry of Mines and Energy to decentralise its operations to better serve small-scale miners in rural areas.

At a meeting in Swakopmund, the MPs emphasised that small-scale miners bear exorbitant costs to travel to Windhoek for services.

Although there are offices of the Mines Ministry in the regions, the parliamentarians argued that such offices are located in towns.

This, they believe, is a financial drawback for small-scale miners, who are mostly based in the rural areas of the regions.

The workshop is aimed at discussing ways of maximising the potential of the mining and energy sectors.