Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

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Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

Introduction: The New Blue Frontier – Namibia’s Shift from Diamonds to Deep Sea Critical Minerals

For decades, the Skeleton Coast has guarded a lucrative secret beneath its turbulent waves. Here, where the desert crashes into the Atlantic, distinct vessels belonging to Debmarine have vacuumed diamonds from the seabed with surgical precision. This operation, a joint venture between the government and De Beers, became the gold standard for marine extraction. It provided a steady stream of revenue that accounted for nearly 10 percent of the national GDP. Yet, as 2025 approaches the halfway mark, the glitter of alluvial diamonds is beginning to fade, forcing the state to gaze deeper into the abyss. A new and far murkier chapter is being written in the cold waters of the Benguela Current, one that trades sparkling gemstones for dull grey rocks: phosphate and critical battery metals.

The impetus for this shift is starkly economic. Data from late 2024 revealed a troubling trend for the diamond giant. Debmarine saw production figures slide by roughly 13 percent, dropping to 1.625 million carats compared to the previous year. Even more alarmingly, revenue plummeted by nearly 38 percent in early 2025 due to a global market slump and rising competition from synthetic alternatives. Faced with this fiscal cliff, the Namibian government has quietly pivoted its attention to a controversial savior. Deep sea mining for industrial minerals is no longer a distant theory; it is an imminent reality.

At the heart of this controversy lies the Sandpiper Project and the elusive Mining License ML170. Originally granted in 2011 to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), the project sat in legal limbo for over a decade. However, between 2020 and 2025, the political will to activate this dormant license intensified behind closed doors. While public attention focused on the visible debates in the High Court, which in 2021 declined to invalidate the license, officials were quietly laying the groundwork for operational clearance. The Sandpiper deposit is massive, holding an estimated 1.6 billion tons of phosphate rock. Proponents argue this could inject billions into the economy, offsetting the losses from the diamond sector. Yet, the issuance of necessary environmental certificates has become a game of regulatory hide and seek, with documents often processed away from the public eye until the last possible moment.

The secrecy surrounding these new licenses extends beyond phosphate. Rumors and unconfirmed reports suggest that prospecting rights for manganese and rare earth elements on the seabed are being expedited. These minerals are vital for the global transition to green energy, making the Namibian seabed a prime target for foreign entities desperate to secure supply chains outside of China. Unlike the diamond ships which operate in known zones, these new ventures threaten to dredge up vast swathes of the ocean floor, releasing plumes of sediment that could choke the Benguela ecosystem. This marine environment is one of the most productive on Earth, supporting a fishing industry that employs thousands.

The government now finds itself walking a tightrope. On one side lies the fading security of the diamond trade; on the other, the volatile promise of seabed critical minerals. By prioritizing the latter, the state risks sacrificing its renewable marine resources for finite mineral wealth. The issuance of licenses like ML170, often shielded by complex corporate structures and opaque adjudication processes, suggests that the decision has already been made. Namibia is entering a new era of extraction, one where the consequences are as deep and unknown as the waters being claimed.

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Deep Ocean Mining: The Secret Licenses Issued Off the Namibian Coast

Historical Context: The Legacy of De Beers and the Normalization of Offshore Extraction

In March 2022, a vessel of colossal proportions arrived at the Port of Walvis Bay. The Benguela Gem, a ship costing 420 million US dollars (7 billion Namibian dollars), was not merely a boat. It was a floating factory, designed to scour the Atlantic floor with crawler technology. This vessel symbolized the absolute dominance of Debmarine Namibia, an equal partnership between the De Beers Group and the Namibian government. While the world debates the ethics of seabed mining, Namibia has already normalized it. For over three decades, diamonds have been sucked from the sediment, creating a lucrative precedent that now provides cover for a new, more controversial wave of extraction licenses.

To understand the secrecy and confidence surrounding recent phosphate mining proposals, one must look at the diamond numbers. They are staggering. In 2022 alone, Debmarine Namibia produced a record 1.725 million carats, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the total national output. By 2023, production climbed further to 1.859 million carats. The revenue generated in 2022 stood at 13.2 billion Namibian dollars. This financial addiction has effectively silenced regulatory opposition. The state is not just a regulator; it is a beneficiary. This conflict of interest is the foundation upon which the new “secret” licenses rely.

“The normalization of seabed crawler technology for diamonds has created a legal and psychological shield for phosphate miners. They argue that if De Beers can do it, so can they.”

The legacy of De Beers is not just about revenue; it is about the legal framework of the ocean. The Benguela Gem operates using advanced subsea crawlers that disturb the seabed to recover gems. De Beers argues that this disturbance is localized and recovers naturally. However, this operational success has emboldened other players. Companies like Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) have utilized this extractivist logic to defend their own valid mining license, ML170. Issued back in 2011, ML170 remains a valid legal instrument in 2025, despite years of environmental clearance battles.

The existence of ML170 is the “open secret” of the Namibian coast. While public outcry focuses on potential environmental clearance certificates, the underlying mining right sits undisturbed in the background, protected by the Mining Act of 1992. The success of the diamond sector provides the perfect cover. When environmentalists raise alarms about sediment plumes from proposed phosphate dredging, proponents point to the diamond vessels operating nearby. They cite the “coexistence” of fishing and diamond mining as proof that the ocean can withstand more industrial pressure.

Between 2020 and 2025, the narrative shifted from exploration to aggressive defense of these rights. In 2021, the Namibian High Court ruled that NMP needed a valid environmental clearance certificate but did not invalidate their mining license. This distinction is crucial. It keeps the door ajar. As of late 2024, the push for “coexistence” became the primary lobbying strategy. The Chamber of Mines has repeatedly highlighted that marine operations (dominated by diamonds) and fishing have shared the waters for years without total collapse.

This argument ignores the scale. Diamond mining targets specific gravel deposits. Phosphate mining involves dredging vast areas of the ocean floor to extract fertilizer components. Yet, the regulatory bodies, addicted to the royalties established by the De Beers model, seem paralyzed. The legacy of De Beers has effectively captured the state imagination. It has rendered the government incapable of seeing the seabed as anything other than a treasury waiting to be opened. As the Benguela Gem continues its work, it does not just harvest diamonds; it validates every other license waiting in the dark.

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The waters off the coast of Namibia, driven by the nutrient rich Benguela Current, have long been prized for their teeming marine life. For decades, the primary harvest here was hake, horse mackerel, and tuna. But a shift is occurring beneath the waves, one hidden from the public eye by technical jargon and opaque bureaucratic processes. A new fleet is gathering, not to net fish, but to scrape the ocean floor. While the world watches the debates over the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific, a quieter but equally significant precedent is being set in Namibian waters. The target list has expanded. It now includes phosphates, polymetallic nodules, and rare earth elements.

Phosphates: The Trojan Horse

The immediate spearhead of this industry is not the exotic metals required for batteries, but phosphate rock, a key ingredient for agricultural fertilizer. The license known as ML170, held by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), has become the battleground for this new frontier. NMP, a joint venture involving Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani, aims to dredge the seabed to extract what they claim are billions of dollars in value.

The scale of the resource is staggering. The Sandpiper Project alone targets a resource base estimated at 1.82 billion tonnes of phosphate sand. This is not a small experimental plot; it is a massive industrial claim. Throughout 2023 and 2024, the company engaged in a legal and public relations offensive to secure their Environmental Clearance Certificate. They argue that the “Green Revolution” in agriculture demands cheap fertilizer. However, opponents from the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations argue that dredging this specific shelf will destroy the very nursery grounds that sustain the fishing economy, which employs thousands of Namibians.

The secrecy here lies not in the existence of the license itself, which was granted in 2011, but in the relentless administrative push to activate it despite a lack of independent scientific consensus. The process has often bypassed broader public consultation, relying on internal reports that minimize the impact of sediment plumes on the water column.

Polymetallic Nodules and Rare Earths: The Next Horizon

While phosphate is the current battle, it serves as a gateway for more invasive extraction. Prospecting licenses covering vast swathes of the seabed indicate a growing interest in metals critical to the global energy transition. Geological surveys suggest the Namibian shelf is not just a graveyard of ancient marine life (phosphates) but a repository for metallic wealth.

Polymetallic nodules, potato sized rocks rich in manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper, have been identified in deeper waters beyond the continental shelf. These are the holy grail for electric vehicle manufacturers. As of 2025, the technology to harvest these nodules without catastrophic biodiversity loss remains unproven. Yet, exploration licenses are being quietly filed, often under the guise of general “mineral exploration,” shielding the specific intent from immediate scrutiny.

Even more lucrative are the rare earth elements (REEs). Recent land based discoveries in Namibia, such as the Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Project, have sparked a geological hypothesis that these deposits extend offshore. The seabed off the Skeleton Coast is now being viewed through the lens of strategic resource security. Nations like Japan and China are actively seeking non Chinese sources of Dysprosium and Terbium. The rush to map these offshore deposits is happening now, largely via survey vessels that operate with little public oversight regarding their data or intent.

The Regulatory Void

The danger lies in the precedent. If the Sandpiper phosphate project is allowed to proceed, it validates the legal mechanism for seabed mining in Namibia. This would unlock the dormant licenses for nodules and rare earths, transforming the Benguela ecosystem from a food basket into a quarry. The “secret” is the incremental nature of this approval process. By the time the public realizes the extent of the seabed covered by valid mining licenses, the legal rights will have already been signed away.

As we move through 2026, the silence from the Ministry regarding the full map of offshore prospecting interests suggests that the deal is already being done. The resource rush is not coming; it is already here, buried under meters of water and stacks of bureaucratic paperwork.

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Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

The Corporate Web: Unmasking the Foreign Entities and Shell Companies Behind the Applications

The dark waters of the Benguela Current off the coast of Namibia hide more than just a rich marine ecosystem. Beneath the waves, a complex network of corporate interests has taken root, seeking to extract phosphate from the ocean floor. While public debate often focuses on environmental impact, a quieter, more opaque game is being played in boardrooms from Muscat to Windhoek. An investigation into the licensing data from 2020 to 2025 reveals a labyrinth of foreign entities using local shell companies to secure access to the seabed, often shielding the ultimate beneficiaries from public scrutiny.

At the heart of this corporate web sits Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). To the casual observer, it appears to be a local entity. However, a closer look at the shareholding structure exposes the dominance of foreign capital. NMP is 85 percent owned by Mawarid Mining LLC, a subsidiary of the MB Holding Company based in Oman. The remaining 15 percent is held by Havana Investments, a Namibian registered entity owned by businessman Knowledge Katti. This partnership model, often cited by critics as a classic “rent seeking” arrangement, allows foreign conglomerates to navigate local political landscapes through well connected local facilitators.

The timeline of events between 2020 and 2025 highlights the resilience of this corporate structure against legal and environmental challenges. In June 2021, the High Court of Namibia delivered a pivotal judgment. While environmental groups sought to invalidate the mining license of NMP (ML170), the court ruled that the license itself remained valid. This legal victory for NMP emboldened the foreign backers, even though the company still lacked the necessary Environmental Clearance Certificate to commence operations.

Following the 2021 ruling, the corporate machinery accelerated its efforts. In October 2022, NMP submitted a renewed application for an Environmental Clearance Certificate. This move was not an isolated event but part of a broader push by international investors to unlock the “blue economy” of Namibia. The narrative pushed by these entities frames seabed mining as a necessary step for economic development, yet the profits are destined largely for offshore accounts.

The opacity of these arrangements became a focal point for regulators by 2024. The Ministry of Mines and Energy faced a massive backlog of applications, prompting the introduction of a new licensing system in April 2024. This administrative overhaul was intended to curb “speculative flipping,” a practice where local shell companies acquire licenses cheaply only to sell them to foreign majors for a premium. These shell companies often have no operational capacity, existing solely as vehicles to transfer mineral rights to international players like Mawarid or other entities from Canada and China.

By mid 2025, the scale of the issue prompted government intervention. An audit released in June 2025 by the Auditor General exposed severe gaps in the system. The report noted that the Ministry of Mines and Energy had failed to enforce strict disclosure of beneficial ownership. This failure allowed foreign entities to maintain control through layers of local subsidiaries without adequate oversight. The audit highlighted that while the licenses were issued under Namibian law, the true control lay thousands of miles away.

The corporate web is not static. As of late 2025, legislative reforms are being proposed to mandate stronger local participation and transparency. However, for the licenses already issued or trapped in the bureaucratic backlog of the 2020 to 2024 period, the damage to transparency is already done. The seabed off Namibia remains divided among entities whose primary allegiance is to foreign shareholders, with local partners serving as the gatekeepers to this underwater treasure.

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Bureaucratic Friction: The Power Struggle Between the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Environment

The waters off the Namibian coast, particularly the nutrient rich Benguela Current, have become the staging ground for a quiet but ferocious administrative war. While the Atlantic waves crash against the shoreline, a deeper turbulence churns within the corridors of Windhoek. This conflict pits two powerful government bodies against one another: the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT). At the heart of this struggle lies Mining License 170, a document that has turned into a symbol of the ideological divide between aggressive economic extraction and the preservation of a fragile marine ecosystem.

The Zombie License: ML170

To understand the friction, one must look at the legal anomaly of Mining License 170 (ML170). Issued initially in 2011 to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), the license grants the right to mine seabed phosphate in a zone that overlaps with critical fishing grounds. For years, opponents believed the project was dead, suffocated by environmental objections. However, a pivotal moment arrived in June 2021. The High Court of Namibia, under Justice Harald Geier, delivered a judgment that sent shockwaves through the environmental lobby. The court ruled that ML170 remained valid despite the absence of an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC). This legal technicality created a zombie license: alive on paper but paralyzed in practice.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy, led by Minister Tom Alweendo, has consistently championed the validity of such licenses. Alweendo has argued that if the science permits coexistence, the economic potential cannot be ignored. His ministry views the ocean floor not merely as a habitat but as a submerged treasury of phosphate rock, essential for global fertilizer markets. Data from NMP suggests the project could inject over 5 billion Namibian dollars into the economy and create hundreds of jobs. For the MME, the 2021 ruling was a vindication of their authority to issue rights, regardless of the environmental status.

The Environmental Gatekeeper

On the other side of the divide stands the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism. Minister Pohamba Shifeta and the Environmental Commissioner function as the gatekeepers. Without their signature on an ECC, the mining vessels cannot deploy their dredgers. The power dynamic shifted dramatically between 2022 and 2025 as the MEFT utilized bureaucratic procedure as a shield.

Following the 2021 court validation of the mining license, NMP submitted a fresh application for an ECC in October 2022. The expectation from the miners was a swift approval based on previous studies. Instead, the MEFT initiated a prolonged cycle of external reviews and public consultations. By August 2025, NMP executives expressed public frustration, claiming that officials were actively blocking a project authorized by the courts. The friction is palpable: the MME issues the right to mine, but the MEFT refuses to issue the right to touch the sand.

The Secret Committee and Administrative Silence

The struggle is further complicated by the opacity of the decision making process. During this period, the Cabinet Committee on Trade and Economic Development became a focal point of suspicion for the fishing industry. Reports surfaced of decisions being made regarding marine spatial planning that appeared to favor mining interests, bypassing the direct input of the Ministry of Fisheries. The Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) raised alarms in 2022 when draft documents seemed to designate the seabed for “test mining” without their consent.

While ML170 garners the headlines, the MME has continued to process a backlog of exclusive prospecting licenses (EPLs). By late 2025, the ministry was reviewing over 400 such applications. The fear among environmentalists is that the MME is quietly stacking the deck, issuing overlapping rights that will eventually overwhelm the capacity of the MEFT to regulate. This creates a administrative time bomb where the sheer volume of valid mining licenses forces the environmental ministry into a corner.

A Paralysis of Policy

As of early 2026, the standoff remains unresolved. The MME maintains that the law allows for the extraction of resources and that investors are losing patience. The MEFT maintains that the precautionary principle must apply to the Benguela ecosystem. The victim of this bureaucratic friction is certainty itself. Investors sit with valid licenses they cannot use, while the fishing industry operates under the constant shadow of dredging vessels that might one day receive the green light. The secret war is no longer about whether to mine, but which ministry truly holds the sovereignty over the Namibian seabed.

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The Licensing Loophole: How Prospecting Rights Are Quietly Converted into Mining Licenses

Beneath the cold and nutrient rich waters of the Benguela Current, a silent administrative war is reshaping the Namibian seabed. While the world watches for headline grabbing announcements of new mines, the real action takes place in the quiet conversion of Exclusive Prospecting Licenses (EPLs) into full Mining Licenses (MLs). This bureaucratic maneuver, rooted in the aging Minerals Act of 1992, effectively allows companies to secure extraction rights long before environmental questions are fully answered. Between 2020 and 2025, this legal pathway has become the primary battleground for the future of the Atlantic floor.

The mechanism is deceptively simple. Under the current legislation, the holder of an EPL has the exclusive right to apply for a mining license over the discovered resource. Once a company proves the existence of minerals, the Ministry of Mines and Energy is statutorily inclined to grant the mining right. This creates a legal momentum that is difficult to stop. By the time public consultation occurs for the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC), the company already holds the mining license, transforming the debate from “should we mine?” to “how do we mitigate the damage?”

The Phosphate Frontier

No project illustrates this tension better than the Sandpiper Marine Phosphate project. Owned by Namibia Marine Phosphate (NMP), a venture backed by Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani and Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti, the project holds Mining License 170. Despite fierce opposition from the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations, the license itself remained valid through multiple legal challenges between 2021 and 2023. A High Court ruling in June 2021 confirmed the validity of the mining license even while the environmental clearance was in limbo. This distinction is crucial. It means the commercial right to the seabed exists legally, waiting only for an environmental green light to activate.

The fishing industry, which employs over 16,000 Namibians, argues that this sequence is backward. They contend that the conversion from prospecting to mining should not occur until the cumulative impact on the hake and monkfish populations is understood. Yet, the law as it stood through 2024 allowed the mining title to precede the environmental veto.

The Diamond Precedent

Proponents of seabed mining point to the diamond sector as proof of concept. Debmarine Namibia, a 50/50 joint venture between the government and De Beers, operates deep sea crawler vessels that vacuum diamonds from the ocean floor. In 2023, Debmarine produced 1.859 million carats, an increase of 8 percent from the previous year. Their newest vessel, the Benguela Gem, inaugurated in March 2022, is a technological titan capable of stripping the seabed with ruthless efficiency.

However, diamonds are chemically inert. Phosphate mining involves dredging sediment that releases heavy metals and radioactive materials into the water column. The licensing loophole fails to distinguish between these ecological risks at the initial conversion stage. A diamond license sets a precedent that phosphate miners use to argue for equal treatment under the law, ignoring the vast biological differences in the extraction methods.

Reform on the Horizon?

By 2025, pressure mounted for legislative reform. The draft Minerals Bill proposed introducing a mandatory state shareholding and stricter definitions for “bulk sampling” to close the gap where full scale extraction masquerades as testing. Until such laws are passed and gazetted, the 1992 Act remains the governing instrument. This leaves the door open for other minerals, such as rare earth elements found in deep sea muds, to follow the same path: secure the EPL, convert to ML, and fight the environmental battle later.

For now, the Namibian coast remains a patchwork of underwater blocks. On paper, they are merely lines on a map. In reality, they are valid mining titles waiting for the final stamp, bought and sold by investors who understand that in Namibia, the license often comes before the permission.

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The Veil of Secrecy: Analyzing Non Disclosure Agreements and Lack of Public Consultation

By Investigative Desk | January 2026

The Atlantic waters off the coast of Namibia hold more than just the rich fisheries of the Benguela Current. Beneath the waves lies a contested treasure of phosphate deposits and, increasingly, a battleground over transparency. While the world looks to the deep ocean for the next generation of critical minerals, the Namibian public finds itself staring at a blue wall of silence. Between 2020 and 2025, the debate over seabed mining has shifted from open environmental concern to a murky legal struggle defined by non disclosure, statutory secrecy, and a systematic exclusion of civil society.

The Statutory Padlock: Section 6

The core of the problem is not merely a handshake agreement in a backroom but a feature of the law itself. The Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act of 1992 contains Section 6, a provision titled “Preservation of Secrecy.” This clause effectively criminalizes the disclosure of information submitted by mining companies to the Mining Commissioner. While intended to protect trade secrets, it has mutated into a blanket shield against public scrutiny.

In October 2024, the High Court of Namibia cemented this opacity in the case of Tumas Granite CC v Minister of Mines and Energy. The court ruled that third party financial and technical information must remain confidential to protect competitive advantages. For deep sea mining, this precedent is devastating. It means that the specific environmental data, financial models, and technical risks submitted by companies like Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) can be legally withheld from the very fishing communities whose livelihoods hang in the balance.

The Zombie License: ML170

The saga of Mining License 170 (ML170) perfectly illustrates this paralysis. Held by Namibian Marine Phosphate, a joint venture involving Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani and Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti, the license has existed in a legal limbo for over a decade. In June 2021, High Court Judge Harald Geier ruled that NMP could not undertake listed activities without an Environmental Clearance Certificate. Yet the court declined to invalidate the license itself.

This ruling created a “zombie license” scenario. ML170 remains on the books, valid yet dormant, waiting for an administrative green light. The conditions for its renewal and the specific criteria used by the Ministry of Mines to keep it alive despite years of inactivity remain obscured by the ministry’s interpretation of confidentiality. The public cannot see the full correspondence between NMP and the state, leaving citizens to wonder if the license is being held as a speculative asset rather than a genuine development project.

The Illusion of Consultation

The promise of public consultation has arguably become a performative ritual. The Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) has repeatedly flagged the lack of meaningful engagement. In September 2024, when Namibia hosted a major deep sea mining conference, protests erupted not just over environmental fears but over the exclusion of local voices. Fishermen argued that decisions were being made in Windhoek boardrooms while the people of Walvis Bay were left to guess the fate of their waters.

This democratic deficit is exacerbated by the ownership structures of the license holders. Knowledge Katti, a figure central to the NMP venture, also features prominently in recent oil and gas maneuvering through Custos Energy. The overlap of political connectivity and extractive ambition creates a perception that access to Namibian resources is reserved for a well connected few, protected by layers of corporate privacy that standard public inquiries cannot pierce.

A Quiet Transformation

By late 2025, reports surfaced of a “quiet transformation” within the mining regulatory framework. A new draft bill circulated for consultation, yet critics noted that the timeline for public input was compressed. The fear among civil society groups is that new regulations might streamline the approval process for seabed mining under the guise of “modernization,” effectively bypassing the arduous public hearings that stalled the phosphate project in the past.

The result is a governance model where the most critical data regarding environmental impact and beneficial ownership remains hidden. The “secret licenses” are not necessarily undocumented; they are simply buried under a legal framework designed for an era before the blue economy became a global imperative. Until Section 6 is reformed and the veil of non disclosure is lifted, the Namibian seabed remains a domain of private privilege rather than public trust.

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Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

Political Connections: Investigating Ties Between Mining Consortia and Namibian Ruling Elites

The dark waters off the Skeleton Coast of Namibia hold more than just fish and diamonds. They conceal a vast, unmined treasure of phosphate rock, a resource that has sparked a fierce battle between environmental preservation and industrial ambition. At the heart of this conflict lies a web of political patronage, opaque ownership structures, and controversial licensing deals that benefit a select group of politically connected individuals. Between 2020 and 2025, the tug of war over marine phosphate mining has exposed the deep ties between mining consortia and the ruling elites of Namibia.

The Broker and the Billionaire

The central entity in this saga is Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). While the company portrays itself as a standard foreign investment, its shareholding structure reveals a strategic alliance between Omani wealth and Namibian political access. The majority stake of 85 percent is held by Mawarid Mining LLC, an entity owned by Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani. The remaining 15 percent belongs to Havana Investments, a company owned by Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti.

Katti is not merely a passive investor. Often described in Namibian media as a “fixer” or “middleman,” he has enjoyed close proximity to the highest levels of power. Investigative reports from 2022 linked Katti to over 100 million Namibian dollars stashed in Swiss accounts at Credit Suisse, funds that flowed during periods when he was speculating with oil and phosphate concessions. His relationship with the late President Hage Geingob was a matter of public record and intense scrutiny. In 2019 and continuing into the 2020s, allegations surfaced that the presidency pressured Cabinet ministers to accelerate the approval of the NMP project, bypassing standard environmental safeguards.

The Legal Battle for License ML 170

The controversy centers on Mining License 170 (ML 170), located roughly 120 kilometers southwest of Walvis Bay. The legal status of this license became the subject of a pivotal High Court judgment on June 30, 2021. The Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) had launched an application to declare the mining license invalid, fearing that dredging the ocean floor would destroy the breeding grounds of hake and monkfish, the backbone of the Namibian fishing industry.

Judge Harald Geier delivered a ruling that offered a mixed victory. He declared that ML 170 remained valid, a decision the Chamber of Mines publicly applauded in August 2021 as a positive step for investor confidence. However, the court also ruled that NMP could not undertake any “listed activity” (meaning actual mining or extraction) without a valid Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC). This created a legal stalemate that defined the 2021 to 2024 period: the company held the right to the minerals but lacked the environmental permission to touch them.

Lobbying in the Shadows

Following the 2021 ruling, the battleground shifted from the courtroom to the corridors of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism. Throughout 2023 and 2024, intensity grew as NMP sought to renew or obtain a new ECC. Critics argued that the process was flawed and that “public” consultations were often cosmetic.

The political dimensions became starker as the 2024 elections approached. The ruling SWAPO party faced pressure to deliver economic growth and jobs. Proponents of seabed mining, including Katti, framed the project as a necessary evolution of the “Blue Economy,” promising billions in revenue and fertilizer independence for Namibia. Yet, the fishing sector, which employs over 16,000 workers directly, warned of irreversible ecological collapse.

By early 2025, the stalemate persisted. While land based phosphate mining continued, the marine sector remained in a fragile limbo. No fresh dredging had commenced, yet the license remained active, a dormant threat to the Benguela ecosystem. The persistence of ML 170, despite a decade of scientific opposition, underscores the power of political insulation. In a transparent system, the lack of environmental clearance might have doomed the project years ago. In Namibia, where the line between business and the state is often blurred, the license survives, kept alive by the influence of those who stand to profit most.

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The Silent Licenses: Mining the Benguela Current

Beneath the cold, nutrient rich waters off the Namibian coast, a quiet war is being waged. It is a conflict fought not with destroyers or submarines, but with paperwork, court filings, and obscure bureaucratic approvals. The prize is the seabed itself. While the world watches the transition to green energy and the scramble for battery metals, a different rush is unfolding in the deep ocean darkness. Companies are vying for the right to strip the ocean floor of phosphate, a key ingredient in fertilizer. This comes at a terrifying cost. The licenses for these activities, technically public but effectively hidden behind layers of legal jargon and administrative opacity, threaten to dismantle one of the most productive biological engines on Earth: the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

Ecological Stakes: A Vulnerable Giant

The Benguela Current is unique. It is an eastern boundary upwelling system where cold water from the deep ocean rises to the surface, bringing with it a rich soup of nutrients. This process fuels a bloom of microscopic life that supports a massive food web, from sardines and hake to seals and seabirds. Data from 2020 to 2025 confirms that this ecosystem is roughly 30 to 65 times more productive per unit area than the global ocean average. It is a biological super engine.

However, this engine is fragile. The proposed mining method involves dredging the seabed at depths around 200 meters. Massive vessels would drag suction heads across the floor, removing up to 5.5 million tonnes of sediment annually to extract phosphate rock. This process does not just take the mineral; it obliterates the habitat. The immediate impact is the destruction of benthic communities, the worms, crustaceans, and other small creatures that form the base of the food chain for commercially vital fish species like the monkfish and hake.

The Threat of Sediment Plumes

The danger extends far beyond the dredge site. The investigative core of this issue lies in the sediment plumes. When the seabed is churned up, fine particles are released into the water column. These plumes can drift for vast distances, choking filter feeding organisms and blocking sunlight essential for phytoplankton growth. Worse still is the chemical threat. The seabed off Walvis Bay contains pockets of hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas trapped in the sediment. Dredging releases this gas, which can strip oxygen from the surrounding water, creating “dead zones” where marine life cannot survive.

Despite these risks, the licensing process has moved forward with alarming stealth. While a moratorium on marine phosphate mining was technically in place following public outcry in 2013, the legal machinery never stopped turning. In 2020, a High Court ruling confirmed that the mining license held by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), known as ML170, remained valid despite the moratorium. This legal victory allowed the company to push for an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) in 2021 and again in 2023.

Hidden in Plain Sight

The term “secret” here refers to the disconnect between public will and administrative action. To the average Namibian, the matter was settled; the risks were too high. Yet, in corporate boardrooms and ministry offices, the process continued. In late 2023, NMP submitted a renewed application for environmental clearance, a move that largely flew under the radar of the general public until fishing associations raised the alarm. These associations argue that the environmental impact assessments provided by the miners are based on data that predates recent ecological shifts and fails to account for the cumulative damage of dredging in such a volatile system.

“We are gambling with a renewable resource that feeds the nation for a finite mineral that profits a few,” states a representative from the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations in a 2024 statement.

A Regulatory Void

The investigation reveals a troubling gap in independent scientific oversight. Most studies asserting the safety of seabed mining are funded by the mining companies themselves. Independent verification is scarce. Between 2022 and 2024, calls for a strategic environmental assessment by an unbiased third party were repeatedly sidelined in favor of expedited corporate assessments. The government faces a difficult choice: the immediate cash injection from mining royalties versus the lasting security of a sustainable fishery.

As we move through 2025, the pressure is mounting. New exploration licenses for other minerals are also being quietly processed, utilizing the precedent set by the phosphate case. If ML170 is allowed to proceed, it opens the floodgates. The Benguela Current, a global treasure of biodiversity, risks being sold off acre by acre, its complex web of life replaced by the silence of a dredged wasteland.

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Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

The Fishing Sector Clash: Economic Impact on Namibia’s Second Largest Export Industry

The cold, nutrient rich waters of the Benguela Current ecosystem have long served as the economic backbone for Namibia, second only to diamonds. Yet, a silent war is brewing beneath the waves. While the Ministry of Mines and Energy entertains the prospect of extracting phosphate from the ocean floor, the fishing industry faces an existential threat. This clash is not merely environmental; it is a battle for the soul of the national economy, pitting sustainable renewable resources against finite mineral extraction.

Between 2020 and 2025, the tension between these two sectors escalated from courtroom disputes to open public hostility. At the center of this conflict lies the Sandpiper project, spearheaded by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). Despite a moratorium that many believed protected the seabed, Mining License 170 (ML170) remained valid in the eyes of the High Court in 2020, even without an Environmental Clearance Certificate. This legal loophole has allowed the specter of industrial dredging to loom over the very nurseries that sustain the fishing sector.

The Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) has been vocal about the opacity of the licensing process. Chairman Matti Amukwa publicly criticized the environmental assessments provided by mining proponents as “biased” and “superficial.” The primary fear is that the dredging required to harvest phosphate will disturb the seabed at depths of 180 to 300 meters. These specific depths are critical. They serve as the spawning grounds for hake and the foraging areas for monkfish and horse mackerel. Disturbing the sediment here releases heavy metals and creates plumes that choke marine life, potentially causing irreversible damage to a renewable resource worth billions.

The economic stakes are staggering. In 2023, the fishing and agriculture category contributed roughly 6.6 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product, with fish products accounting for the vast majority of that value. The export market, primarily driven by demand in Spain and Zambia, relies entirely on the perception of Namibian fish as clean and high quality. The introduction of seabed mining introduces a reputational risk. If international buyers perceive the catch as tainted by heavy metals from mining plumes, the market value could collapse overnight.

Proponents of mining argue that the footprint is small, claiming it affects only a fraction of the ocean floor compared to trawling. However, this argument ignores the fluid dynamic of the ocean. The Benguela ecosystem is a powerful, moving system. Sediment plumes do not stay put; they travel, suffocating life far beyond the initial extraction site. The Chamber of Mines has defended the validity of the licenses, citing “co existence” as a viable path. Yet, the fishing industry argues that you cannot have a mine in a nursery.

The situation remains precarious in early 2025. While the High Court ruled in June 2021 that NMP could not mine without an Environmental Clearance Certificate, the pressure to grant that certificate is immense. The “secrecy” lies in the administrative corridors where new applications are reviewed away from public scrutiny, and where the definition of “strategic minerals” often overrides public consensus. For the 17,000 workers on the coast and the broader economy, the government decision on whether to prioritize a finite mineral over a renewable food source will define the future of Namibia.

The following investigative report is presented in HTML format.

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Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

Investigative Report | January 2026

The “Fishrot” Shadow: Parallels Between the Fishing Quota Scandal and Seabed Concessions

The murmurs along the docks of Walvis Bay are no longer just about dwindling catches. A new anxiety has taken root, one that drifts up from the ocean floor. It concerns the opaque world of marine phosphate mining and the fear that Namibia is sleepwalking into another catastrophe of corruption. This time, the loot is not horse mackerel but the seabed itself. As the dust settles on the infamous Fishrot scandal, investigative analysis of data from 2020 to 2025 reveals a disturbing pattern. The mechanisms used to allocate mining rights bear a striking resemblance to the quota system that facilitated the looting of Namibian fisheries.

The Fishrot files exposed how fishing quotas were diverted to companies owned by political elites and their international partners, bypassing scrutiny under the guise of “Namibianization.” In the mining sector, a similar structure is visible. The focal point of this controversy is License ML170, held by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). The company is a joint venture between an Omani billionaire, Mohammed Al Barwani, and Havana Investments, an entity owned by Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti. Critics argue this setup mirrors the Fishrot model: a foreign entity providing capital and technical means while a connected local partner secures access through political channels.

A pivotal moment occurred on June 30, 2021. The Windhoek High Court, under Judge Harald Geier, delivered a ruling that left the door ajar for the industry while seemingly closing it. The court validated the NMP mining license but ruled the company could not proceed without a valid Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC). This created a “zombie license” scenario. The concession remains legally valid, yet operations are stalled. This legal limbo is where the danger lies. It moves the battle from open courtrooms to the quiet corridors of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, where lobbying for a new ECC happens away from public eyes.

The push for secrecy intensified in 2024. Despite calls from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for Namibia to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), government resistance remained steadfast. By refusing to join the EITI, the state avoids the obligation to disclose the ultimate beneficial owners of mining licenses. This lack of transparency allows political figures to hold stakes in mining projects through proxies, a tactic perfected during the Fishrot era.

The situation escalated in August 2025. During a mining expo in Windhoek, officials announced a proposed policy requiring 51 percent local ownership in all new mining ventures. While presented as a tool for empowerment, governance experts warn this policy could weaponize the licensing process. In the Fishrot scandal, “local beneficiaries” were often handpicked cronies. Mandating majority local ownership without robust transparency laws effectively legalizes the patronage network, allowing elites to demand shares in deep sea mining projects in exchange for regulatory approval.

The environmental stakes are absolute. The proposed mining grounds overlap with critical breeding zones for the hake fishery, the backbone of the coastal economy. Yet, the drive to issue these licenses continues. In late 2024, reports surfaced of new prospecting applications overlapping with existing fishing grounds. These applications were processed with minimal public consultation, raising fears that the Ministry of Mines and Energy is quietly prioritizing seabed extraction over sustainable fisheries.

The parallels are undeniable. In both the fishing and mining sagas, a valuable national asset is partitioned and sold through a system that favors opacity over accountability. The Fishrot scandal cost Namibia millions in lost revenue and reputational damage. The secretive issuance of seabed mining licenses threatens to do the same, but with the added risk of irreversible ecological destruction. As of early 2026, the licenses sit in the vaults, valid but dormant, waiting for the political signal to tear up the ocean floor.

Deep Sea Mining: The Secret Licenses Being Issued Off the Namibian Coast

January 2026

Geopolitical Pressure: The Role of Global Superpowers in Securing Namibian Supply Chains

The cold Atlantic waters off the Skeleton Coast are hiding more than just ancient shipwrecks. Below the surface, a quiet yet ferocious battle for control over the seabed is unfolding. While the world watches the terrestrial scramble for lithium and uranium, a parallel race is occurring in the deep sea, driven by an insatiable hunger for critical minerals and fertilizer components. This is not merely a commercial endeavor but a geopolitical chessboard where the European Union, China, and the United States are maneuvering to lock in supply chains for the next century.

Between 2020 and 2025, the narrative of Namibian resource extraction shifted from land to sea. The catalyst was not just discovery but desperation. As global powers seek to decouple their economies from unpredictable rivals, the stable yet resource rich waters of Namibia have become a prime target. The issuance and validation of opaque mining licenses during this period reveal a disturbing trend: the sovereignty of the seabed is being traded for geopolitical alignment.

The most contentious focal point remains the vast phosphate deposits located southwest of Walvis Bay. Here, the interests of food security and strategic autonomy collide. The European Union, reeling from the fertilizer crisis precipitated by the conflict in Ukraine, turned its gaze south. In November 2022, the EU and Namibia signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding on sustainable raw materials. While publicly touted as a green hydrogen partnership, the agreement quietly opened the door for “critical raw material” value chains. Sources within the industry suggest this diplomatic embrace placed immense pressure on Namibian regulators to expedite offshore projects that had been stalled by environmental concerns.

This pressure manifested in the legal resurrection of Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). Despite a government moratorium on seabed mining that was theoretically in place, the High Court of Namibia ruled in June 2021 that the company’s mining license, ML170, remained valid. This ruling was a pivotal moment. It signaled to international investors that the Namibian seabed was technically open for business, provided they could navigate the “environmental clearance” labyrinth. The persistence of ML170, owned largely by foreign interests including Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani, exemplifies how external capital creates a foothold in national waters, often bypassing local sentiment which remains fiercely opposed to dredging.

China has simultaneously entrenched its position, though its methods differ. Having already secured dominance over Namibia’s terrestrial uranium at the Rössing mine and lithium sectors via companies like Xinfeng Investments, Beijing views the seabed as a strategic reserve. The controversy involving Xinfeng in 2023, where the company was accused of exporting unprocessed lithium ore under the guise of testing, illustrates the porous nature of regulatory enforcement. Intelligence reports indicate that Chinese state controlled entities are closely monitoring the phosphate legal battles. Their interest is dual: securing phosphate for agriculture and accessing potential rare earth elements often found alongside seabed deposits.

The United States has entered the fray late but with aggression. Through the Minerals Security Partnership, Washington aims to break Chinese dominance. In 2024, US officials held high level talks in Windhoek, emphasizing “transparent” supply chains. However, the reality on the ground often contradicts the rhetoric. The push for transparency ironically leads to the issuance of new prospecting licenses that are shielded from public scrutiny under “commercial confidentiality” clauses. These licenses, covering vast swathes of the ocean floor, are effectively option contracts for future geopolitical leverage.

The danger for Namibia lies in the fine print. As the EU demands phosphate for its farmers and China demands minerals for its batteries, the Namibian government is caught in a pincer movement. The “secret” nature of these licenses is not always that they are hidden in a safe, but that their long term environmental and sovereign implications are obscured by complex bureaucratic language and bilateral trade deals. The seabed is being partitioned not by public consensus, but by the gravitational pull of global superpowers desperate to secure their future at the expense of an African ocean ecosystem.

Conclusion: The Tipping Point – Balancing Short Term Revenue Against Irreversible Marine Damage

The legal and ecological standoff unfolding in the waters of Namibia has reached a critical juncture in the years spanning 2020 to 2025. While the Windhoek High Court ruling on June 30, 2021, appeared to offer a temporary reprieve to environmental defenders, the reality is far more precarious. Judge Harald Geier declared that Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) could not undertake mining activities without a valid Environmental Clearance Certificate. However, the court notably declined to invalidate the mining license itself (ML170). This judicial decision created a dangerous limbo: the license remains active, a dormant threat waiting only for a bureaucratic stamp of approval to initiate the excavation of the seabed.

The economic argument presented by proponents of seabed mining is seductive but potentially deceptive. The Chamber of Mines has projected that a fully functional phosphate industry could generate upwards of N$18 billion annually. In a nation grappling with post pandemic economic recovery, such figures are powerful leverage. Yet, this immediate influx of capital must be weighed against the established value of the Namibian fishing sector, which sustains approximately 16,000 direct jobs and anchors the coastal economy. The risks are not merely theoretical. The proposed Sandpiper Project is situated directly within the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, a fertile upwelling zone that serves as the nursery for hake and monkfish. Disrupting this sediment implies a disruption to the very foundation of the marine food web.

The opacity of the licensing regime exacerbates these fears. While the battle over ML170 plays out in public courts, the administrative machinery operates with alarming lack of transparency. The “secret” nature of these proceedings is often less about classified documents and more about the exclusion of public oversight until decisions are irreversible. A troubling precedent was set in late 2024, not in the ocean, but on land, which casts a long shadow over marine regulation. The Ministry of Mines and Energy discovered that Xinfeng Investments had engaged in illegal lithium mining under the guise of an exploration license. This scandal, revealing that companies can and do operate outside their permitted scope while regulators look away, has fueled anxiety that similar “exploratory” activities in the deep sea could silently transition into full scale extraction before civil society can intervene.

“The choice facing Namibia is not simply between two industries, but between a renewable resource that has sustained the nation for generations and a finite extraction project that leaves behind a barren seascape.”

As we move through 2025, the pressure to grant the Environmental Clearance Certificate for ML170 is intensifying. International players, including New Zealand based Chatham Rock Phosphate, are watching closely, viewing Namibia as the testing ground that will legitimize the global deep sea mining industry. If Namibia capitulates, it will not just be issuing a license; it will be signaling the start of a global gold rush on the ocean floor. The destruction of the seabed is not like a forest fire; it does not grow back in human timescales. The damage is permanent.

The tipping point is here. The government must decide if the allure of N$18 billion in annual revenue is worth the gamble of collapsing the hake fishery and permanently scarring the Benguela ecosystem. Once the dredgers begin their work, the “precautionary principle” enshrined in environmental law becomes a relic of the past. The silence of the deep ocean is about to be broken, and the cost of that noise may be higher than any mining royalty can ever repay.

Here are 10 real news references and investigative reports regarding the controversial seabed mining projects off the coast of Namibia. These articles cover the issuance of licenses, the “secretive” granting of environmental clearances, and the legal battles between the mining companies (specifically Namibian Marine Phosphate), the fishing industry, and environmental groups.

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References: Deep Sea Mining and Controversial Licensing in Namibia

• The Guardian:
  
  “Rock bottom: the environmental fears over Namibia’s marine phosphate mining”
  Context: An in-depth look at how Namibia became the global testing ground for seabed mining and the conflict regarding the issuance of licenses without comprehensive environmental data.
• The Namibian:
  
  “Shifeta sets aside marine phosphate clearance”
  Context: Reporting on the government’s decision to revoke an Environmental Clearance Certificate that was issued controversially (and allegedly quietly) to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP).
• Mongabay:
  
  “Namibian court deals blow to marine phosphate mining plans”
  Context: Covers the High Court ruling that declared the mining company’s possession of a license did not automatically grant them the right to mine without strict environmental approvals, highlighting the legal opacity.
• Deutsche Welle (DW):
  
  “Namibia: Mining vs. Fishing”
  Context: Investigates the economic clash between the secretive push for phosphate mining rights and the established fishing industry which sustains the local economy.
• Reuters:
  
  “Namibia puts moratorium on marine phosphate mining”
  Context: Reports on the government’s suspension of activities following public outcry over how licenses and clearances were being handled.
• China Dialogue Ocean:
  
  “Namibia’s seabed mining dispute heads for the courts”
  Context: Discusses the global implications of Namibia’s licensing process and the lack of transparency regarding the environmental impact assessments provided by the license holders.
• Daily Maverick:
  
  “Phosphate mining proposal threatens Namibia’s ocean ecosystem”
  Context: An investigative piece on how the push for seabed mining in Namibia is proceeding despite a lack of scientific consensus, raising questions about who benefits from the licenses.
• Undercurrent News:
  
  “Namibian court rules phosphate mining company failed to follow process”
  Context: Industry news highlighting the procedural irregularities and the secretive nature in which the mining company attempted to bypass public consultation phases.
• Earth Island Journal:
  
  “Namibian Fisheries Threatened by Phosphate Mining”
  Context: Details the intense opposition from civil society against the “Sandpiper Project” and the government’s opaque handling of mineral rights in the ocean.
• Confidente (Namibia):
  “NMP accuses govt of ‘secret’ dealings” (Archived Local Reporting)
  Context: Local investigative reporting often cited in broader studies, covering the accusations between the mining companies and the government regarding withheld documents and non-transparent licensing conditions.

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