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Project Plans

The exploration and any subsequent development will be undertaken and the responsibility of Bonaparte's Namibian joint venture, in which Bonaparte holds a 70% share and Tungeni Investments - a government-owned private company - the remaining 30%.

"These particular areas are going to be approximately 40 kilometres off the coast in an environment where operations have been ongoing in the marine diamonds industry for many years now so the operational environments are very well understood," Woodborne said in an interview with Sydney's Boardroom Audio.

Management is formulating a development plan that includes using conventional suction dredging and simple onshore beneficiation with the aim of producing 3 million tonnes per annum of rock phosphate at low operating cost.

The deposits' relatively shallow depth is well within reach of existing dredging ships is one of several attributes that can give Bonaparte and the Namibian government a cost advantage over competing projects, according to Bonaparte.

The unconsolidated nature of the marine phosphate deposits affords the operation a competitive advantage over hard rock phosphate mining on land, as it requires less in the way of processing for enrichment, management points out. Also contributing to the potential for a low cost base is close, built-in access to Walvis Bay's existing port infrastructure.

Moreover, the growing practice of directly applying rock phosphate in organic agriculture, as opposed to enhanced fertiliser products, lowers costs to farmers and requires less in the way of environmental management.

Environmental Considerations

Dredging the seafloor has triggered environmental protests and stymied project development plans in Bonaparte's home base of Australia. Woodborne and Bonaparte believe that the environmental impacts of developing the prospects in Namibia will be relatively minor, and that Namibia's existing environmental laws and regulations provide assurances that offshore mining activities will be conducted using the latest technology and best practices.

"Namibia must be one of the few countries in the world that has established a marine diamond mining industry, or offshore diamond mining industry," Woodborne told Boardroom Audio. "They've got well-placed legislation, management programs accepted to establish baselines, etc.