Australia’s Minemakers Limited on 27 July became the 63rd company to list on the Namibian Stock Exchange (www.nsx.com.na) when it joined the Development Capital Board (DevX).
Minemakers has interests in phosphate mining – for which it says Namibia has the world’s sixth biggest resource. Fertilizers could see high demand as “soft commodities” including food and agriculture, may grow in value. The company is also developing Wonarah rock phosphate project in Australia.
It is an exploration and mining development company and is already listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (www.asx.com.au) and has a market capitalisation of A$54 million (US$49.3 million). According to a report in The Namibian newspaper (www.namibian.com.na), Managing Director Andrew Drummond said at the listing that it intends to list soon on the Toronto Stock Exchange (www.tmx.com).
The exclusive prospecting licences, including the Sandpiper/Meob marine phosphate some 60km offshore Namibia, are held in a joint venture company, Minemakers Tungeni Joint Venture Exploration Pty (Ltd). Minemakers, via 100%-owned Bonaparte Diamond Mines, holds 42.5% of the joint venture, fellow Australians Union Resources Limited also has 42.5% and local black-empowerment partner Tungeni Investments cc has 15%.
The secondary listing pushed up the overall market capitalisation of the NSX by about N$356 million to nearly N$1.1 trillion (US$148 billion). The DevX now stands at N$18.3 billion (US$2.5billion).
Drummond said preliminary indications are that Namibia has about 1.6 billion tonnes of phosphate, making it the sixth biggest resource in the world. According to the newspaper, Minemakers 2009 annual report says mining could start next year, “subject to a favourable result from the scoping study, and gaining the necessary development funding and government approvals”.
In its regulatory listing advertisements in the local media, Minemakers said it regarded the development of the Sandpiper/Meob project as “one of its top priorities and the natural expansion strategy for establishing two geographic distribution centres – one in Australia and the other in Namibia – to supply growing global demand for phosphate and related fertilizer products”.
Minemakers said the Sandpiper/Meob project is well-placed to develop into a new “phosphate-producing province” in Namibia. The company has another phosphate project at Rocky Point, north of Walvis Bay.