Uranium giant, Rössing, has paid the government N.dollars 111 million in royalty tax while spending around N.dollars around 2.3 billion in local procurement in 2021.

This is contained in Rössing Uranium’s stakeholder report which was launched and presented by the company’s managing director, Johan Coetzee, Thursday evening.

During the same period, Rössing paid N.dollars 167 million as pay-as-you-earn, however, no corporate tax dividends were paid during the period under review.

“Payments to public enterprises such as NamWater and NamPower amounted to N.dollars 464.2 million,” Coetzee stated.

More so, the Rössing Foundation invested N.dollars 14 million in local community projects.

Despite Rössing’s sales volumes being 11 per cent higher than in 2020, revenue dropped by six per cent to N.dollars 4.26 billion.

This is attributed to the impact of a stronger Namibian dollar against the US dollar.

On the production front, the company exceeded its targets by 16 per cent compared to the previous year.

“To produce this product, we had to mine 20.7 million tonnes of rock and process 9.6 million tonnes of ore,” he explained.

During the period in question, 76 per cent of sales volume was delivered to Asia, of which 90 per cent was sold to China through the China National Uranium Corporation (CNUC).

“The remaining 26 per cent sales volume was delivered under the long-term contract portfolio to North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” he added.

Rössing currently has a workforce of 943 permanent employees [99 per cent are Namibian], of which 20 are women.

“We spend N.dollars 930 million on salaries and wages and a total of N.dollars 24.7 million was spent on training our employees,” Coetzee said.

The current mining life of Rössing Uranium is 2026.

However, the mine is working around the clock to secure a longer-term future and continued employment security for the mine and the employees, he said, adding that, to this effect, the board approved funds to complete a bankable feasibility study for extending the life-of-mine beyond 2026.

“This is underpinned by a north-eastern extension of our existing open pit, referred to as the Phase 4 pushback, which can provide sufficient ore to continue production for another 10+ years,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, mines deputy minister, Kornelia Shilunga reaffirmed government support for the mining sector.

She, however, hastened to say Namibians must reap maximum returns from their natural resources.

Just when the Namibian economy was showing signs of recovery, things started going in reverse gear, she said, blaming the current dire economic situation on the war in Ukraine.

“We must ask ourselves this question: How best can we bring the private sector and the government together to grow the economy?” she asked.

For Shilunga, profits must never come at the expense of environmental degradation.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency