CDH bets big on Namibian mining
CDH Namibia hosted mining executives, industry leaders and others shaping the future of the Namibian mining industry at an exclusive networking event at the Weinberg Conference Centre in Windhoek last week Wednesday.
The event coincided with the annual Chamber of Mines of Namibia Expo and Conference, which concluded at the Windhoek Show Grounds on Thursday.
Viven Chaplin, head of mining at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's (CDH) South African offices, said mining was a business about resources, but also about people.
"In Namibia I can see that a lot of the relationships here are built on trust, are built on long-term relationships, and the ability to know each other, to communicate and to bring the right expertise at the right time," she said.
Chaplin said this was where CDH's mining team came in.
"We are not just a group of lawyers who do mining work. Mining is one of the core centres of CDH and our team has spent many years, decades in fact, building relationships across the mining industry" in South Africa and across the continent, she said.
"Our strength is that we understand the mining sector as a whole," she said.
"At the moment in Namibia opportunities are so significant, and the environment is so fertile and stable and encouraging, it is wonderful for us to be able to start to strengthen our presence here and possibly bring our expertise into this burgeoning sector," Chaplin said.
CDH Namibia was established through a merger with Kauta, Berendse and Kishi Inc in September last year.
Director Patrick Kauta said Namibia was entering an exciting new chapter, adding that these developments positioned the country "not only as an attractive investment destination, but as an increasingly important contributor to the future of mining, energy and industrial development across Southern Africa."
"The opportunities before us are significant," he said.
"We are seeing projects with the potential to create lasting economic value, strengthen regional supply chains, generate employment, increase local participation and support sustainable development for generations to come," he said.
"Realising that potential, however, requires more than abundant natural resources. It depends on a stable and predictable legal and regulatory environment, efficient institutions, reliable infrastructure and continued collaboration between government, industry, investors and local communities," Kauta said.
"Importantly, Namibia does not have to choose between attracting investment and delivering greater national benefit," he said.
He said that as mining and Namibia's regulatory framework continued to evolve, "so too will the legal, regulatory and commercial considerations that underpin them."
"At CDH, we are proud to support investors, developers, financiers and operators as they navigate these complexities," he said, adding that CDH Namibia's Africa-wide experience enabled it "to provide practical, commercially focused advice across the full lifecycle of projects, both within Namibia and across the continent."
