Namibia throws out black ownership mining requirement

Namibia has scrapped a rule allowing only companies partly owned by black Namibians to apply for mining licences, mines minister Tom Alweendo told AFP on Saturday. The southern African country produces diamonds, uranium and other mineral resources, but a three-year recession has pushed the government into relaxing the rules in the hope of attracting more investors.
The Namibian government started giving preferential treatment to black-owned companies in 2006, but eventually that was not deemed enough. The Namibia Statistics Agency said the mining sector contributed 12 percent to Namibia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. The sector employed around 16,900 people last year, or 2.5 percent of the workforce.