The proposed seafloor phosphate mining project in Namibia will be undertaken in an environmentally responsible and sensitive manner. Technology is available to ensure minimal environmental interference and the phosphate mining planned will be even more sensitive to the environment than current diamond marine mining in the area, says Namibian Marine Phosphate project GM DavidWellbeloved, himself a yachting enthusiast and sea lover.
“We believe that because this is deep, it exists from the 185 m mark down to about the 300 m mark, we are not really in the abundantly active zone of the sea. Our impact will be minimal,” he says but environmental groups continue to question the findings on which this view is based. Wellbeloved’s retort is that his company will not be mining to bedrock but will leave part of the phosphate deposit untouched in order to allow ocean life to regenerate without having to change habitat. “We believe the fishing industry and the mining industry can coexist,” he adds.
The mining concession contains 1.8 billion tons of phosphate and it is a loosely unconsolidated sandy material on the seafloor. There is no overburden to remove, no shafts to sink and a suction hopper dredge vessel will be chartered to mine the seabed.
The 230-m boat trails an arm behind it, drawing up the phosphate as it moves and dewatering the material and storing it on board. On shore, the material is pumped into a holding pond and treated. Three such cycles a week are envisaged, each cycle bringing in some 70,000 t of material.