Gecko Salt (Pty) Ltd - slrconsulting.com · gecko salt (pty) ltd socio-economic baseline and assessment study as input to the environmental impact assessment and management plan for

Gecko Salt (Pty) Ltd

SOCIO-ECONOMIC BASELINE AND ASSESSMENT STUDY

as input to the

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT PLAN

FOR

Gecko’s PROPOSED SOLAR SALT PRODUCTION FACILITY

AT CAPE CROSS SALT PAN

Final Report

13th July 2017

Submitted by:

Ashby Associates cc

Ref No: CC/2005/3706

Ms Auriol Ashby

[email protected]

Tel: +264 61 233679

Cell: +264 81 240 9678

mailto:[email protected]

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility i

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................... iii

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. iv

1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1

2 Methodology and Limitations ........................................................................................... 2

3 Project Description .......................................................................................................... 3

4 Legislative and Institutional Context ................................................................................ 5

4.1 Mining Rights and Agreements ................................................................................ 5

4.2 Institutional Context ................................................................................................. 5

5 The Socio-Economic Baseline Environment .................................................................... 7

5.1 Economic Overview and the National Development Context .................................... 7

5.2 The Erongo Region .................................................................................................. 8

5.3 The Cape Cross Area ............................................................................................ 10

5.4 Henties Bay ........................................................................................................... 12

5.4.1 Population Dynamics ...................................................................................... 12

5.4.2 Housing .......................................................................................................... 13

5.4.3 Education ........................................................................................................ 14

5.4.4 Health ............................................................................................................. 14

5.4.5 The Local Economy ........................................................................................ 15

5.4.6 The Town’s Future Development Framework.................................................. 17

5.5 The Economics of Salt ........................................................................................... 17

5.5.1 Global overview .............................................................................................. 17

5.5.2 Salt Production in Namibia .............................................................................. 18

6 The Socio-economic Impact Assessment ...................................................................... 19

6.1 Assessment Methodology and Limitations ............................................................. 19

6.2 Impact: Employment Creation and Skills Development .......................................... 21

6.3 Economic Impacts at a local, regional and national level........................................ 26

6.4 Impact: Increased demand for improved housing and schools ............................... 30

6.5 Impact: Competing land uses – conservation, eco-tourism and mining .................. 33

6.6 Increase in heavy vehicle road traffic ..................................................................... 36

7 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 37

8 References .................................................................................................................... 38

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility ii

List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1. Location of Cape Cross Salt Pan .............................................................................. 1

Figure 2. Constituencies in the Erongo Region ........................................................................ 9

Figure 3. Image of Cape Cross environs (Source: Gecko) ..................................................... 10

Figure 4. Cape Cross Mineral License Holders, 2015 (Source: Gecko) .................................. 11

Figure 5. Map of Henties Bay showing main residential areas ............................................... 12

Figure 6. A view of Henties Bay central business district ........................................................ 15

Figure 7. Type of Business Activities in Henties Bay .............................................................. 15

Figure 8. Available Spending Power of Households throughout Henties Bay ......................... 16

Figure 9. Global Salt Production methods .............................................................................. 18

Table 1. Government Institutions of relevance to the Proposed Project ................................... 5

Table 2. Criteria for assessing impacts .................................................................................. 20

Table 3. Project phases linked to job creation and skills development ................................... 21

Table 4. Estimated staffing levels and minimum qualifications for 600,000ta salt ................... 22

Table 5. Number of jobs created by broad skill categories for 1Mta production ...................... 23

Table 6. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact - job creation and skills development... 24

Table 7. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact – job loss on project closure ................ 25

Table 8. Project phases linked to economic impacts .............................................................. 26

Table 9. Tabulated summary of positive economic impacts of salt production ........................ 28

Table 10. Project phases linked to increased demand for housing and schools ..................... 30

Table 11. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact: increased demand for housing & schools32

Table 12. Project phases linked to competing land uses ........................................................ 33

Table 13. Tabulated summary of competing land uses .......................................................... 35

Table 14. Increase in heavy vehicle road traffic...................................................................... 36

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility iii

List of Acronyms

CBS Central Bureau of Statistics

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EPL Exclusive Prospecting License

ERC Erongo Regional Council

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GRN Government of the Republic of Namibia

HDN Historically Disadvantaged Namibians

HPP Harambee Prosperity Plan

IUSDF Integrated Urban Spatial Development Framework

MAWF Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry

MET Ministry of Environment and Tourism

MFMR Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources

MITSMED Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development

ML Mining License

MME Ministry of Mines and Energy

MPE Ministry of Public Enterprises

Mta Million tons per annum

MURD Ministry of Urban and Rural Development

MWT Ministry of Works and Transport

NaCl Sodium chloride

Na2CO3 Sodium carbonate

NamPort Namibian Port Authority

NamWater Namibia Water Corporation Ltd

NDP5 Fifth National Development Plan

NPC National Planning Commission

NSA Namibia Statistics Agency

UNAM University of Namibia

WBSR Walvis Bay Salt Refiners

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility iv

Executive Summary

This socio-economic study considers the baseline setting and environmental impact

assessment of a new solar salt production facility at the Cape Cross salt pan, which is

located approximately 45km north of Henties Bay and 160km north of Walvis Bay.

The number of salt crystallising ponds can be scaled up to match market demand and this

EIA considers a maximum production level of 1.5 Million tons per annum (Mta) of mined salt

even though Gecko is planning to begin production at 600,000ta. The raw salt will be taken

in trucks to a processing plant nearby and the purified salt will be transported to Walvis Bay

harbour for export.

The Erongo Region has the second highest living standards in the country yet there is

considerable poverty in its urban informal settlements attached to each town and in inland

rural communities. The permanent population of Henties Bay is over 12,000 with a growth

rate of 3.4%, mainly due to job seekers. The economy is driven by tourism, beach-fishing,

construction of middle-income housing and micro and small businesses. Over half the

population is economically active and the most common occupations were in the service,

retail and trade industries, and domestic work. Unemployed rates are between 18-23% and

greater among women than men.

Affordable housing for low income households has not kept pace with demand and a

2012/13 survey found over 1,400 households were in need of decent housing. Similarly, the

local school enrolled over 1,100 children this year and eleven classes have to be held in the

afternoon due to a shortage of classrooms. Education levels are generally low, with about

50% of the town’s population having completed 10 years of schooling.

Four significant impacts were identified and assessed:

1. Employment creation and skills development

2. Economic Impacts at a local, regional and national level

3. Increased demand for improved housing and schools

4. Competing land uses – protected areas, eco-tourism and mining

Most positive impacts can be enhanced with careful management, and mitigation measures

for negative impacts have been proposed.

The project will contribute to the local, regional and national economy during the 10 months

construction phase and during operations which could last many decades. Government is

likely to gain over N$10 million in royalties and taxes annually through mining and over N$30

million through value-addition and transportation. Employees, and a diverse range of

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility v

regional suppliers of goods and services down the supply chain, will contribute further direct,

indirect and induced economic benefits to the local and regional economy.

The project is expecting to employ up to 99 long-term jobs in Phase 1 and over 160 mostly

semi-skilled jobs once in full production. To minimise additional housing pressure in Henties

Bay and the other coastal towns, Gecko is urged to recruit and train existing residents

whenever possible. It is recommended that mine and processing staff should live

permanently in Henties Bay and commute daily to the salt works; on site accommodation

should only be used for emergency shift supervision. This will maximise benefits to the local

economy and to employees’ families. Gecko’s salaries and benefits package must

encourage and enable staff to own decent houses. It is recommended that haulage truck

operators should be recruited from, and continue to live in all three coastal towns which will

maximise the continuous flow of trucks yet enable the drivers to maintain a stable family life.

Potential competing land uses were considered. Mining in the salt pan, tourism and

conservation areas with restricted access have co-existed for many years. The increased

mining rate and concomitant increase in processing and haulage may impact on the wider

area’s sense of place. Unsafe overtaking of these very heavy haulage trucks on the coastal

road where fog, undulating roads with poor road signage, may result in more road accidents

and is a serious concern which should be assessed in the transport study. The potential

impacts on the sense of place and road accidents need to be carefully monitored and if

negative impacts are too significant, mitigation measures may be needed. Gecko must take

the lead in engaging with local stakeholders to maximise synergies which will benefit all

parties in the Cape Cross area.

The economic assessment has found that the project is in line with Namibia’s development

plan to create an industrialised nation by adding value to raw materials and creating jobs.

Impact enhancement measures are proposed which further contribute to achieving NDP5

objectives, notably: providing vocational training to unskilled local people, particularly

women; improving infrastructure in the Cape Cross area (water, roads, telecommunications

etc.); and improving housing through the introduction of an employer housing scheme.

Overall, salt mining and purification works will bring much needed, stable, socio-economic

benefits to the local communities.

Socio-economic baseline and Impact Assessment for the Gecko Solar Salt Production Facility 1

1 Introduction

Gecko Salt (Pty) Ltd (Gecko) intends to develop a new solar salt production facility at the Cape

Cross salt pan within Exploration Licence (EPL4167) which is located approximately 160km

north of Walvis Bay (Figure 1). Ashby Associates cc was commissioned by Gecko to carry out

an independent, specialist socio-economic baseline and impact assessment study for the

planned Cape Cross Salt Production Development, as required by the Environmental

Management Act 7 of 2007. This was undertaken by Ms Auriol Ashby, who has conducted over

100 socio-economic consultancies in Namibia of which more than 15 were Environmental

Impact Assessments.

Figure 1. Location of Cape Cross Salt Pan

The proposed salt production facility lies 45km north of Henties Bay which is the nearest town

and is therefore expected to be the main town impacted by the development. From a socio-

economic perspective, Swakopmund is expected to be slightly impacted by increased local


economic activities arising from the project, additional job opportunities (truck drivers), but also

traffic as will Walvis Bay as the point of export. Impacts of the project on transport aspects,

Namport and Walvis Bay were not part of this scope of work.

2 Methodology and Limitations

The methods used for the baseline study which was conducted in late 2015, included desk-top

research, a visit to the project site, Cape Cross and Henties Bay, and communications with

Gecko. All the data in the Henties Bay section is sourced from the Henties Bay Integrated

Urban Spatial Development Framework (IUSDF), Volume 1 and 2, prepared by Urban

Dynamics and Enviro-Dynamics (Urban Dynamics, 2015) and with consultations with the

Municipality of Henties Bay.

The following people were interviewed:

1. Mr. Kuhn Topper, Henties Bay Municipality

2. Ms. Cornel de Villers, Strategic Executive: Finance & Information Technology, Henties

Bay Municipality

3. Sister. Amupolo, Henties Bay Clinic

4. Ms. Lisiana Uses, Financial Officer, Hanganeni Artisanal Fishing Association

5. Mrs H. Speelman, Principal Kamwandi School

6. Life Ndjawella, Cape Cross Lodge

7. Ms. Anna Amukugo, MET Cape Cross.

8. Philip Hooks, Gecko’s Environmental Specialist.

National data sources are listed in the bibliography; as are documents relating to the project and

salt mining supplied by Gecko.

The impact assessment methodology is described in Section 6.1. The assessment was carried

out in March 2017 and was based on:

information gathered in the baseline study and comments from Interested and Affected

Parties, notably the Cape Cross Lodge and NACOMA,

a Techno-Economic and Marketing Feasibility Study conducted by Salt Partners Ltd,

Zurich for Gecko in 2009

Gecko’s Cape Cross Salt Investor’s Pack of September 2015

Further specific socio-economic information provided by Oliver Krappmann, Director:

Geology, Gecko Namibia February 2017

The consultant’s extensive knowledge and experience of socio-economic impacts of

mining on Namibian communities.


3 Project Description

The information on the project was sourced from Gecko (Gecko, September 2015). The salt pan

covers an area approximately 15km long and an average of 3km wide, behind a long sand bar,

beside the coastline. It is equivalent to approximately 41km2 or 4,100ha and is estimated to

contain around 350Mt of salt (Roskill, 2014). The proposed salt production facility will cover an

area of approximately 248 hectares, made up of 55 crystallising ponds approximately 60m wide

and as long as possible, all pointing northeast to benefit from the prevailing wind. To increase

annual production to around 1.3Mta, Gecko will also need to develop crystallizers on the alluvial

fan.

As the salt pan is below sea level, the crystalliser ponds are created by removing 300-450mm of

topsoil and a further 0.5m of rock salt so a minimum depth of 300mm below the brine level is

created. The ponds naturally fill with brine by seepage from the sea and additional leeching

from the rock salt adds to the brine’s concentration. The salt layer takes approximately six

months to evaporate to a depth of 150mm before it is removed using a customised salt

harvester.

The salt is loaded onto dump trucks which take it to the processing plant for crushing and

washing with brine. The main plant will have primary and secondary crushers, a primary

screen, a screw conveyor wash plant (Sierra Washer), dewatering screen, cyclone and

centrifuge and various conveyor belts.

The first phase of the project, planned to start once the mining license has been granted, will

entail mining mostly natural rock-salt as the crystallisers are constructed. Rock salt mining is

expected to peak at 422,289 tons in Year 2 of operations. The production of recrystallized salt

will increase, as the crystallisers are developed, to approximately 600,000ta salt by Year 4,

depending on market demand.

Phase 2 could see production rise up to 1.3Mta purified salt, pending market demand.

Therefore this environmental impact study will consider impacts up to 1.5 Mta mined salt, to

produce 1.3Mta purified salt.

A feasibility study carried out by Salt Partners Ltd, Switzerland, calculated that to mine 1.1Mta

salt is likely to create 20 jobs and processing it will create a further 28 jobs to produce 1Mta of

purified salt (Salt Partners Ltd, 2009). If the mining tonnage increases to 1.5Mta during daylight

only, it is likely that even more mining jobs and possibly processing jobs as well, will be created.


At a production rate of 1.3Mta of purified salt, an estimated 109 truck operators1 will be

employed to haul purified salt to Walvis Bay; 4 staff will man the harbour store. At this

production rate, at least 161 jobs may be added to the local economy.

Gecko has been operating the Blaauw processing plant at Cape Cross since August 2015 and

as a sub-contractor to other mining licence holders it employs 30 people at Cape Cross. The

new project will use existing buildings for the camp, consisting of a renovated permanent

building together with prefabricated accommodation for 36 people. Gecko intends to renovate

the permanent structure for offices in due course.

Power will initially be sourced using gensets (diesel) for the processing plant and

accommodation camp. Thermo solar (tower and mirrors tracking) and/or wind (1 tower

producing 3MW) are being considered for later. Water, originating from the Omdel Aquifer, will

be purchased from NamWater, which would require the construction of a new pipeline from the

abstraction point to the proposed project site. At first, water will be trucked in from Henties Bay.

A water study will assess the potential of abstracting water from 2 boreholes in the Orawab

ephemeral river.

The market determines the different product requirements. De-icing salt needs the least

processing. Gecko aims to produce chemical grade salt that contains 99.7% sodium chloride

(NaCl) and general purpose salt grades of 99% NaCl. Some products will require the addition of

an anti-caking agent and iodine before being bagged. The salt produced will be a key raw

material for Gecko’s proposed soda ash plant (Na2CO3 sodium carbonate) as well as for export

(Roskill, 2014).

Gecko had invested over N$9.2 million in developing the project by 2015 and the environmental

studies will cost a further N$1.6 million when completed. Once environmental clearance has

been given and the mining license is granted, Gecko intends to purchase trucks valued at

approximately N$16 million and invest N$ 29 million to develop the crystallisers planned for

Phase 1 (600,000t salt/annum).

1 Based on Pers. comm. with Philip Hook that each truck can carry 36,000ta and there will be three shifts of drivers.

July 2017


4 Legislative and Institutional Context

4.1 Mining Rights and Agreements

Gecko was granted Exclusive Prospecting License (EPL) 4167 in June 2009 which covers the

Cape Cross salt pan and surroundings. Within the Cape Cross salt plan, Gecko has purchased

three Mining Claims. These Mining Licenses and a future successful Mining License on EPL

4167 will enable Gecko to produce up to 1.3Mt/annum (Gecko, September 2015).

4.2 Institutional Context

The Government institutions which oversee laws and policies of socio-economic relevance to

the proposed project are listed in Table 1: (GRN, Oct 2015)

Table 1. Government Institutions of relevance to the Proposed Project

Government Institution

Mandate / Role Relevance to the Project

Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET)

MET is tasked to manage the country’s ecological processes and life-support systems, conserve biological diversity, and ensure that natural resources are sustainable for the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future.

MET should also play a coordinating role in developing tourism, marketing Namibia as a tourist destination and in tourism product development.

To this end, the Environmental Management Act requires this proposed project to apply for an Environmental Clearance Certificate.

Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME)

MME facilitates and regulates the development and sustainable utilization of Namibia's mineral and energy resources for the benefit of all Namibians.

MME requires a valid Environmental Clearance Certificate before it issues a mining license.

Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR)

MFMR is the custodian of fisheries and marine resources.

The project should avoid actions which may be detrimental to fishing, the promotion of aquaculture and seal harvesting.

Ministry of Public Enterprises (MPE)

MPE aims to make the State Owned Companies such as the Roads Authority, NamPort, NamPower, NamWater, TransNamib and Telecom, more accountable to Government as their sole shareholder.

The project will need to work closely with the Roads Authority which manages the national road network with a view to support economic growth. The proponent is negotiating with NamPower regarding the possible utilisation of a powerline service road to get the salt trucks off the Main Road MR44 as much as possible.

Gecko intends to export salt through NamPort in Walvis Bay.

Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT)

MWT is responsible for sectoral policy and regulation. It also has a mandate to ensure infrastructure development and maintenance on transport and state asset management.

The project will need vehicle permits and may advocate for improvements of specific roads in the interest of economic development.


Government Institution

Mandate / Role Relevance to the Project

Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD)

MURD has the role to coordinate and spearhead the decentralization process, to promote rural development, establish an effective, decentralised Regional and Local Government system, housing and physical planning.

The project’s employees will need adequate housing, preferably in Henties Bay, rather than on site.

Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development (MITSMED)

MITSMED is responsible for the development and management of Namibia’s economic regulatory regime, on the basis of which the country’s domestic and external economic relations are conducted. It is also responsible for promoting growth and development of the economy through the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies to attract investment, increase trade, develop and expand the country’s industrial base.

This Ministry becomes more relevant when Gecko moves beyond the mining and export of raw salt to major value addition, such as a soda ash plant. Providing opportunities for SMEs and labour-based works to be involved at any stage of mining and processing will support government’s industrialisation and employment creation policies.

Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MPESW)

This ministry aims to direct the work of government ministries and that of the private sector to promote growth which reduces poverty. It also aims to strengthen social safety nets to eradicate households living in poverty.

Any action by the private sector to promote poverty alleviation will support this ministry’s mandate.

Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation (MLIREC)

This ministry is responsible for the execution of the Labour Act No. 11 of 2007, the Social Security Act No. 34 of 1994, the Employees Compensation Amendment Act No. 5 of 1995 and the Affirmative Action Act (Employment) No. 29 of 1998. Compliance is enforced and monitored through the office of the Labour Commissioner.

The project must comply the various Acts which stipulate, amongst other things, sound labour relations, employment equity, fair employment practices, training, minimum basic conditions of service, workplace health and safety and retrenchment.

Erongo Regional Council (ERC)

The ERC’s development plans are aligned with the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) and Vision 2030. The leader of the Regional Council is the Governor who is appointed by the President of Namibia. The seven regional councillors represent each of the constituencies in the region.

Several line ministries, notably Education, Gender and Child Welfare, the Department of Works and the Directorate of Rural Water Supply are formally under the Regional Councils.

The proposed project would clearly contribute to the development goals of the region.

Local Authority: Municipality of Henties Bay

Under the Local Authorities Act of 1992,

the Municipality is responsible for the

provision and operation of bulk water supplies, sewerage and solid waste management, fire services, public amenities, cemeteries and sport and recreation facilities.

The proposed project is likely to have close links with Henties Bay as the nearest town. The town could be a source for basic services – banks, food, housing, schooling of employees’ children, plant and vehicle repairs.

Source: (GRN, Oct 2015)


5 The Socio-Economic Baseline Environment

5.1 Economic Overview and the National Development Context

Namibia’s per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about N$73,000 (USD5,667) which

ranks it as an upper middle income economy. However this hides great inequalities as shown

by a Gini coefficient of 0.57. The country faces pervasive poverty (although greatly reduced

from 28% in 2010 to 18% in 2015) and a dependency syndrome which threatens

family/community cohesion and political stability. Currently, poverty is highest amongst youth

(37%), women (22.39%), marginalized and rural communities (27.15%) and children (34%)

(NSA, 2012). Although 72% of Namibia’s potential workforce is employed, 86% of the total

population earns less than the domestic worker minimum wage of N$1,353/month (RoN, 2017).

Mining contributes 12.5% to GDP and particularly diamonds, continues to be the main source of

Namibian export earnings. Mining also provides critical upstream, downstream and side-stream

linkages for the Namibian economy, such as transport services, power, water, skills, research

and development, logistics, communications and financial services (RoN, 2017).

Tertiary industries (such as wholesale and retail, telecommunication, hotels, restaurants and

other business sectors) contribute around 58 percent of the share to total GDP while secondary

industries contributed 15.8% of GDP. The main primary industries are agriculture, fishing and

mining which contribute about 20% to GDP which is a similar contribution made by secondary

industries (such as manufacturing, and construction). The top five sectors which contribute

GDP are manufacturing, mining, wholesale, retail trade and repairs, and the public transport

(NPC, 2016).

Namibia’s Vision 2030 aims to achieve “a prosperous and industrialised Namibia” to be realised

through economic transformation and industrialization, articulated in its national development

plans. The Fifth National Development Plan 2017/18 – 2021/22 (NDP5) aims to achieve rapid

industrialisation while adhering to the four integrated pillars of sustainable development:

Economic Progression

Social Transformation

Environmental Sustainability

Good Governance.

It plans to achieve economic progression by developing value added industrialisation,

substituting imports for locally produced goods, creating value-chains of production, and to

accelerate Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) development. Other outcomes in NDP5 to

which the proposed project could potentially contribute are:

Poverty alleviation (through job creation and business growth)

Improved infrastructure in the Cape Cross area (roads, telecommunications etc.)


Upskilling

Gender equality

Improved housing and sanitation

Environmental sustainability (if Gecko develops renewable sources of energy for the

plant)

The President of Namibia spearheaded the Harambee Prosperity Plan [HPP], before NDP5 was

finalised, to complement NDP5 and Vision 2030. The HPP is a focused and targeted approach

to achieve high impact in defined priority areas. The proposed salt production facility has the

potential to contribute to three of the HPP’s pillars: economic advancement, social progression

and infrastructure development (RoN, 2016).

This potential investment comes at a time when Namibia’s economy is under severe strain.

Externally, commodity prices are low, the global economy has slowed and there is low growth in

large neighbouring economies. Namibia experienced a severe drought during the last three

consecutive years, with negative effects not only in the agricultural sector, but also in wet

industries and the construction supply chain. Liquidity came under pressure due to weak market

confidence and consequently, a tight cash flow situation. Economic growth has slowed in 2016

to an estimated 1.3 percent.

5.2 The Erongo Region

The Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES 2015/2016) estimates the

population of Erongo has grown to 175,752 since the Population and Housing Census in 2011

when the population was recorded as 150,809 (NSA, 2017). The overall annual growth rate

between the 2001 and 2010 census was 3.4% but the towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay

have experienced growth rates of 5.3% and 5% respectively. More than three quarters of the

region’s population live in the coastal towns of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Henties Bay and

in Arandis which is slightly inland (NSA, 2014). Of the nearly 52,000 households, the average

household size in the region is 3.4 people per household (NSA, 2017).

The region has seven constituencies and the planned project is within the very elongated

Arandis constituency (Figure 2).


Figure 2. Constituencies in the Erongo Region (Source: http://www.erc.com.na/maps/constituencies/)

The main employment sectors in the Erongo Region are manufacturing (11.5%), mining

(11.7%), fishing and agriculture (11.5%), construction (9%), repair of motor vehicles (9%) and

administrative / support services (8%). The region’s growth has been largely due to the mining

sector, the harbour and fishing industry based in Walvis Bay, and the tourism sector which is

focused around Swakopmund. Many tourists take day trips to the Cape Cross seal colony, the

dunes and to the desert inland.

In 2014, the unemployment rate in the Erongo Region for women was 32% while for men it was

significantly less at 18%, amounting to over 23,000 unemployed people. Of those nearly 21,000

had been looking for work for more than 6 months (NSA, 2015).

As a measure of living standards, the Erongo Region has the second highest per capita

consumption of all Namibia’s regions, estimated at N$22,700 per person per year in 2009/10

and this has grown by 54% in 5 years from N$14,700/person/year (NSA, 2012) and (CBS,

2006). When this is compared to six of the northern regions where rates are below


N$9,000/person, it partly explains why the region experiences high in-migration (NSA, 2012);

Oshiwambo is the most common language group used by 39% of households. Other main

language groups are Afrikaans (20%) and Nama/Damara (19%), with English (5%) and German

(3%) making up a small minority.

The contribution of the mining economy to the Erongo Region and to Namibia’s Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) as a whole is significant. Non-diamond mining contributes over 50% of its annual

total profits to government in the form of direct and indirect taxes. The mining sector in the

coastal region is dominated by uranium mining and exploration. The Husab mine is expected to

provide 1,600 permanent employees (Chinese and Namibian) and a further 8,000 indirect jobs

in Namibia through the multiplier effect estimated at seven additional jobs to every mining job.

Tourism is another important sector in the Erongo Region as it is a popular destination; 490,000

tourists entered the country in 2014.

5.3 The Cape Cross Area

The Cape Cross salt pan straddles the boundary between the Dorob National Park and the

Cape Cross Seal Reserve. Cape Cross is a popular tourist destination for day visitors from

Swakopmund and Henties Bay and visitors can overnight at the Cape Cross Lodge and

Campsite (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Image of Cape Cross environs (Source: Gecko)


The reserve offers the world’s largest breeding colony of Cape Fur Seals with up to 210,000

seals present during the breeding season in November and December (MET, 2015). The

seasonal harvesting of pups and adult males is set by an annual quota system issued by the

Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and provides employment at the factory

in Henties Bay.

In 2013, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism recorded 44,397 visitors at their Cape Cross

office of whom 73% were from outside the Southern Africa Development Community and only

13% were Namibian. They travelled in over 16,000 vehicles and paid over N$3 million in park

entrance fees to government2.

There are many license holders in the Cape Cross salt pan with mining licenses, mining claims

and exploration licenses as shown in Figure 4. Mining Licenses are mainly issued for salt and

guano and one is for base and rare metals.

Figure 4. Cape Cross Mineral License Holders, 2015 (Source: Gecko)

Guano production rates have fallen in recent years and this is associated, largely to the

reduction in pelagic shoaling fish species along the coastline, which served as a primary food

source for marine birds (AURECON/SLR, 2014).

The most common seabird species occupying the guano platforms is the Cape Cormorant. Its

ability to move to different breeding localities enables it to take immediate advantage of good

2 Pers. comm. MET Cape Cross Office


feeding conditions that may arise. It produces three eggs per clutch and so it has the potential

to increase rapidly in good feeding years while they also decrease rapidly in periods of reduced

availability of prey (Crawford, 1999).

5.4 Henties Bay

Henties Bay is the nearest town to the Cape Cross salt pan and lies 45km south of the pan on

the north-south coastal Main Road MR44. It is situated on the coast, at the mouth of the

ephemeral Omaruru River and is surrounded by the Dorob National Park. The town grew up as

a holiday destination for people seeking the outdoor life – the Dorob Park offers extensive

beaches, many prime fishing spots and 4x4 routes to the Messum and Doros Craters,

Brandberg West, the Ugab and the Omaruru Rivers, and to Welwitschia. The busiest periods

are linked to the South African holidays of June/July, the European holidays in July/August and

the local/South African holiday season in December/January.

Government offices in the town are the municipality, the clinic, the police station, the Ministry of

Fisheries and Marine Resources’ permit office and the police station.

5.4.1 Population Dynamics

Henties Bay has three distinct areas – Henties Bay town (formal low density housing areas of

middle-high income), the high density extensions of Omdel and its informal settlement area

called !Oas (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Map of Henties Bay showing main residential areas

Source: Urban Dynamics 2015 Henties Bay Status Quo Report (Volume 1)


In 2015, the Municipality estimated a permanent population of approximately 12,000 of which

about 6,500 live in Omdel where the Municipality provides them with basic services.

Approximately 5,500 people are living permanently in the formal town area, excluding holiday

makers. The Municipality supplies 7,690 households with water, of which 2,100 are in the

formal town and 5,100 in Omdel3. Many houses in the formal area are owned by non-permanent

residents who come to the town during holiday periods when the population can swell to an

estimated 21,000 people.

The population has grown considerably in the last three years as a survey conducted by Urban

Dynamics during 2012/13 in preparation for the Henties Bay Integrated Urban Spatial

Development Framework (IUSDF), estimated a permanent population of 7,461 living in 3,714

households, with an average of about 2.3 people per household. If the municipality population

estimates for 2015 are correct, the IUSDF has greatly underestimated a population growth rate

of 3.36% which they predicted would result in an estimated population of 9,265 by 2017 and

14,000 people by 2033 (Urban Dynamics, 2015)p9.

The survey found that approximately 25% of the residents in the formal and informal areas

moved to Henties Bay after 2008, many pulled by employment opportunities in the middle-high

income housing construction sector. The ratio of male-female was fairly even and the

percentage of people in the working age group of 15-59 years was 60% (Urban Dynamics,

2013).

Afrikaans is the most prominent language spoken in the Henties Bay area comprising 85% of

the population, followed by Damara/Nama then Oshiwambo (Urban Dynamics, 2013).

5.4.2 Housing

As with all other towns in Namibia, housing development over the past two decades focused on

providing middle and high income housing and thus Henties Bay extensions have a projected

over-supply of erven up to 2033, with approximately 1,500 developed erven and 1,800 which

are undeveloped/not yet serviced.

In contrast, affordable housing for low income households has not kept pace with demand. In

Omdel, most of the 900 erven have an additional household living in a backyard construction.

The survey estimated that over 800 households in Omdel currently need an erf to live on. In

addition to the three formal extensions of Omdel, approximately 17% of housing is in the

informal areas of !Oas where approximately 640 households lived at the time of the survey

(Urban Dynamics, 2015).

3 Pers. comm. Henties Bay Strategic Executive: Finance & Information Technology, Oct 2015


5.4.3 Education

The 2012/13 Urban Dynamics survey of over 4,000 residents, recorded that an estimated 15%

had no formal education while 50% had already completed Grade 10. Residents living in the low

density areas of Henties Bay attained the highest levels of education with 64% having

completed at least Grade 12 or attaining some level of tertiary education.

The only school is the Kamwandi Combined School whose learner numbers are growing

annually at an increasing rate. In October 2015 it had 988 learners from Grade 0 to Grade 10

and by February 2017, 1,120 learners were enrolled. The school is in great need of more

classrooms as eleven classes have to run in the afternoon which is a severe disadvantage to

children in Grade 1, 2 and 3 who are tired by then. Twenty five classes of the 31 class groups

are over-sized with more than 40 learners per class. Their priority needs are 12 new

classrooms, a boundary wall, ablution blocks for girls and boys, a bus shelter and additional

transport. Suitable and affordable accommodation for teachers is also a challenge. It is an

English medium school and offers Afrikaans and Khoi Khoi as second languages. There is one

private pre-primary school4.

The University of Namibia (UNAM) Sam Nujoma Campus engages between 400-500 students

and lecturers on its 100ha site to the north of the town. The Centre is a full-fledged

multidisciplinary research centre with the mandate to promote research and development

activities in the field of Marine Science and Coastal Resources. The Department of Fisheries

and Aquatic Sciences is an Academic Department within the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural

Resources of the University and offers a four-year degree programme and a research based

postgraduate programme5.

The National Youth Service, a government youth programme, offers “civic training” at their

Henties Bay facility for approximately 500 youth between the ages of 16 – 35 years. The youth

get free food, free accommodation, uniforms and N$350 a month in allowances. They manage a

large vegetable garden and are allowed to visit the town centre once a month6.

5.4.4 Health

Henties Bay has a number of private doctors, a frail care centre, a medical centre, a clinic and

pharmacies (Urban Dynamics, 2013). The Henties Bay government clinic is run by two

registered nurses and two enrolled nurses; the government doctor rarely visits. Very sick

patients are referred to the hospital in Swakopmund but there is no government ambulance

available so people have to arrange their own private transport. Lifelink Emergency Rescue

Services offers a private sector paramedic service. Common diseases recorded to date in 2015

4 Pers. comm. Principal, Kamwandi Combined School, October 2015; [email protected] 5 http://www.unam.edu.na/sam-nujoma-campus/ 6 http://www.nys.com.na/


at the clinic were acute respiratory infections, muscular skeletal & diseases, skin diseases and

diarrhoea which is likely to be poor hygiene related7.

5.4.5 The Local Economy

The Henties Bay central business district is well structured, compact and easily accessible from

most of the existing residential neighbourhoods (Figure 6).

Figure 6. A view of Henties Bay central business district Source: Urban Dynamics. 2013. Henties Bay Status Quo Report

The Municipality has 160 registered businesses of which the majority are in the formal retail

sector, 12% are industrial and 7% are office-based (Figure 7). Industries include a fish factory, a

seal factory, garages, brick-making, wood-working using wood from the Congo and a 10

machine sewing enterprise. In the agricultural sector there is a chicken hatchery8. The 2012/13

survey found that most of the informal businesses sold food and alcohol while 14% offered

specialised activities such as vehicle repairs, hair braiding and barber shops.

Figure 7. Type of Business Activities in Henties Bay Data Source: Urban Dynamics Henties Bay Status Quo Report

7 Pers. comm. Henties Bay clinic registered nurse, October 2015. 8 Pers. comm. Henties Bay Strategic Executive: Finance & Information Technology

59%

12% 7%

21%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Formal Retail FormalIndustrial

Formal Office Informalbusiness in the

proclaimedtown


Over 60 local fishermen are members of the Hanganeni Artisanal Fishing Association which

gives them access to the Association’s vehicle to access fishing points further up and down the

coast. Fishermen are required to have valid permits to fish barbel, snoek, shark, kabeljou,

steenbras, blacktail, galeon and rock lobster, some of which are seasonal. During the six days

prior to interview, members caught kabeljou valued at over N$8,000 which contributes to the

salaries of its 13 employees9.

The 2012/13 survey found that in both the formal and informal areas of Omdel, the majority of

workers were unqualified and the unemployment rate was 18% in Omdel (formal) and 23% in

!Oas. The most common occupations were in the service, retail and trade industries, with

domestic work being important in !Oas and Omdel. Nearly half of the residents of the survey

(46%) were classified as economically inactive – being pensioners, homemakers and students

(Urban Dynamics, 2013).

The average earning capacity was relatively low with just over half (54%) of all residents in the

whole town earning in a range between N$600 to N$6,000 per month. Almost half the

households in !Oas earned less than N$1,000 per month, compared to a quarter of households

in Omdel. In the formal Henties Bay area, nearly three quarters of households earned more

than N$6,000/month. When household consumption patterns were analysed for the whole town,

approximately 60% of households had low economic power (N$300 – N$4000/month) while

only 12% of households had over N$10,481 to spend monthly (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Available Spending Power of Households throughout Henties Bay Data Source: Urban Dynamics Henties Bay Status Quo Report.

The low spending power of the majority of households influences the type of housing they can

afford to buy and the ability of the town to support local economic activities (Urban Dynamics,

2015).

9 Pers. comm. Finance Officer, Hanganeni Artisanal Fishing Association, October 2015

60%

23%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Spending power:N$301 -N$4,000

Spending power:N$4,001 -N$10,480

Spending power:over N$10,481


5.4.6 The Town’s Future Development Framework

Henties Bay Integrated Urban Spatial Development Framework (IUSDF) recommended that the

MR44 is shifted eastwards to allow for residential growth on the seaward side while industrial

development supported by smallholdings will expand on the eastern side. This road

construction is presently ongoing and includes a by-pass for Henties Bay10. In addition to the

current undeveloped erven, the IUSDF plans for the development of a further 1,473 service

erven which will create over 2,000 housing opportunities by 2033.

Given that Henties Bay surrounding Townlands cover an extensive area of 12,450ha,

opportunities to diversify the economy are restricted in the sensitive desert environment.

However, urban agriculture, aquaculture and conservation opportunities have been identified as

having potential.

The available public open spaces and recreation facilities (golf course, jukskei and tennis court,

a small public pool and a super tube) are below the national standards, the Municipality plans to

develop seven open space and recreation projects by 2020 (Urban Dynamics, 2015).

5.5 The Economics of Salt

5.5.1 Global overview

Salt is a large volume, low priced bulk commodity that is produced and traded internationally. In

2013, global salt production is estimated to have been 289Mt produced by over 110 countries,

with China, the USA and India dominating production11. Approximately 40% of the salt is

produced by evaporating seawater or inland brines while 34% is brine extracted from solution

mining; just over a quarter of global production is from the mining of rock salt (Error! Reference

ource not found.Figure 9).

Marketable salt is derived from both brine and rock salt mining but these techniques require

large amounts of energy in order to recrystallize the salt.

10 Pers. comm: Oliver Krappmann, Director Geology, Gecko, July 2017. 11 Information in this section is taken from Roskill. 2014. Salt: Global Industry Markets & Outlook.


Figure 9. Global Salt Production methods

Source: Roskill. 2014. Salt: Global Industry Markets & Outlook, 14th edition.

The use of salt is dominated by the chemical production industry which accounts for about 60%

of global demand. Salt is converted mainly into chlorine, caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and

soda ash (sodium carbonate) which are key basic inorganic chemicals for the chemical industry.

The food and food processing industry accounts for about 20% and this includes meat

processing, canning, other food processing, baking and dairy products. The remaining 20% of

salt demand is for road de-icing, water treatment, tanning, animal feed, production of cooling

brines and many other, smaller applications (Sedivy, 2008) and (Kostick, 1993).

Salt production is very responsive to demand caused by winter weather conditions as de-icing

salt accounts for up to 43% of the consumption in the USA and up to 30% in Europe. The

demand for salt is forecast to rise by about 3% per year, particularly in the chemical sector, with

the main growth in China and India (Roskill, 2014).

5.5.2 Salt Production in Namibia

Currently, salt production in Namibia is dominated by Walvis Bay Salt Holdings which produced

about 88% of the national production while the Salt Company of Swakopmund produced around

90,000t in 2012 (Roskill, 2014).

Salt production at Walvis Bay began in 1964 and has grown to be the largest solar evaporation

salt facility in Africa, producing about 725,000t of salt from 24Mt of seawater in 2012. Salt &

Chemicals produces the raw salt while its sister company Walvis Bay Salt Refiners (WBSR)

further processes and markets the final product through Namport. Its biggest market is South

Africa, with growth in demand from Nigeria and some other West African countries (Roskill,

2014). With the increasing demand for salt, Salt and Chemicals is expanding production to

1Mt/annum through an additional seawater intake and feeder pipe and additional ponds,

resulting in a total footprint of 4,500ha (Roskill, 2014).

40%

34%

26% Solar Evaporation ofseawater

Brine extracted by solutionmining

Mined rock salt


The Ekandjo Salt Refinery, a N$50 million joint venture with WBSR and empowerment partners

EVI Mining and EHI Investments, can produce up to 60,000t of salt per year and it created 30

new jobs in 2011 (Sherbourne, 2014).

Gecko has been operating a salt processing plant at Cape Cross within Mining Licence 11 since

August 2015. Mining licence 11 is held by the Swakopmund Salt Company and Gecko has a

contract to mine salt there which is sold to Blaauws transport.

6 The Socio-economic Impact Assessment

In this chapter, the predicted positive and negative impacts associated with the proposed project

will be explained and assessed. Measures are proposed to enhance and maximise positive

socio-economic impacts while proposed mitigation measures aim to reduce negative impacts.

6.1 Assessment Methodology and Limitations

Economic data for the assessment has been scrutinised from the techno-economic and

marketing feasibility study for a 1.1Mta production facility conducted by Salt Partners Ltd,

Zurich, for Gecko in 2009 and from more recent plans of Gecko to produce 600,000ta salt. The

two documents contain differing levels of detail and some gaps exist. Notably, the feasibility

study gives a price per km for transporting salt from the site to Walvis Bay and does not

breakdown the number of truck drivers required for transporting 1Mta and the resulting

contribution to wages. This information has been gathered from the project’s transport study

and transport wage rates arising from a different project in which Gecko is involved.

Potential impacts have been super-imposed on the baseline information to give an assessment

of the project’s impact on the socio-economic environment. These have been grouped as five

potentially significant impacts:

1. Employment creation and skills development

2. Economic Impacts at a local, regional and national level

3. Increased demand for improved housing and schools

4. Competing land uses – protected areas, eco-tourism and mining

5. Increase in heavy vehicle road traffic (assessed in a different study).

Assessment of predicted significance of impacts for a proposed development is by its nature,

inherently uncertain – environmental assessment is thus an imprecise science. To deal with

such uncertainty in a comparable manner, the Hacking standardised and internationally

recognised methodology12 is applied in this study to assess the significance of the potential

environmental impacts. The method complies with the requirements provided in the Namibian

EIA Policy document and EIA regulations. A new level has been introduced, H++, to encourage

12 As described, inter alia, in the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s Integrated

Environmental Management Information Series (Gov. of SA, 2002).


enhancement measures which will lead to even greater socio-economic improvements and

excellent opportunities for improving corporate image with government and the public.

In Table 2, Part A provides the approach for determining impact consequence (combining

severity, spatial scale and duration) and impact significance (the overall rating of the impact).

Impact consequence and significance are determined from Part B and C. The interpretation of

the impact significance is given in Part D. Both mitigated and unmitigated scenarios are

considered for each impact.

Table 2. Criteria for assessing impacts

PART A: DEFINITION AND CRITERIA

Definition of SIGNIFICANCE Significance = consequence x probability

Definition of CONSEQUENCE Consequence is a function of severity, spatial extent and duration

Criteria for ranking of the SEVERITY/NATURE of environmental impacts

H Substantial deterioration (death, illness or injury). Recommended level will often be violated. Vigorous community action. Irreplaceable loss of resources.

M Moderate/ measurable deterioration (discomfort). Recommended level will occasionally be violated. Widespread complaints. Noticeable loss of resources.

L Minor deterioration (nuisance or minor deterioration). Change not measurable/ will remain in the current range. Recommended level will never be violated. Sporadic complaints. Limited loss of resources.

L+ Minor improvement. Change not measurable/ will remain in the current range. Recommended level will never be violated. Sporadic complaints.

M+ Moderate improvement. Will be within or better than the recommended level. No observed reaction.

H+ Substantial improvement. Will be within or better than the recommended level. Favourable publicity.

H++ Even greater improvement; excellent opportunities for improving corporate image with government and the public.

Criteria for ranking the DURATION of impacts

L Quickly reversible. Less than the project life. Short term

M Reversible over time. Life of the project. Medium term

H Permanent. Beyond closure. Long term.

Criteria for ranking the SPATIAL SCALE of impacts

L Localised - Within the site boundary.

M Fairly widespread – Beyond the site boundary. Local

H Widespread – Far beyond site boundary. Regional/ national

PART B: DETERMINING CONSEQUENCE

SEVERITY = L

DURATION Long term H Medium Medium Medium

Medium term M Low Low Medium

Short term L Low Low Medium

SEVERITY = M

DURATION Long term H Medium High High

Medium term M Medium Medium High

Short term L Low Medium Medium

SEVERITY = H

DURATION Long term H High High High

Medium term M Medium Medium High

Short term L Medium Medium High

L M H

Localised

Within site boundary

Site

Fairly widespread

Beyond site boundary

Local

Widespread

Far beyond site boundary

Regional/ national

SPATIAL SCALE


PART C: DETERMINING SIGNIFICANCE

PROBABILITY

(of exposure to impacts)

Definite/ Continuous H Medium Medium High

Possible/ frequent M Medium Medium High

Unlikely/ seldom L Low Low Medium

L M H

CONSEQUENCE

PART D: INTERPRETATION OF SIGNIFICANCE

Significance Decision guideline

High It would influence the decision regardless of any possible mitigation.

Medium It should have an influence on the decision unless it is mitigated.

Low It will not have an influence on the decision. *H = high, M= medium and L= low and + denotes a positive impact.

The method is as follows:

For each impact, the SEVERITY (nature of impact), DURATION (time scale) and SPATIAL

SCALE (extent) are described. These criteria are used to ascertain the CONSEQUENCE of the

impact.

The SIGNIFICANCE of an impact is derived by taking into account the CONSEQUENCE and

PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE (ranging from definite to seldom). Such significance is also

informed by the context of the impact, i.e. the character and identity of the receptor of the

impact.

Despite attempts at providing a completely objective and impartial assessment of the

environmental implications of development activities, environmental assessment processes can

never escape the subjectivity inherent in attempting to define significance. The determination of

the significance of an impact depends on both the context (spatial scale and temporal duration)

and severity of that impact. Since the determination of these factors will ultimately be prejudiced

by the observer, there can be no wholly objective measure by which to judge significance.

Although these measures may not totally eliminate subjectivity, they provide an explicit context

within which to review the assessment of impacts.

6.2 Impact: Employment Creation and Skills Development

Description of Impacts

This section examines the potential impacts of the project on employment creation and skills

development over the main phases of the project (Table 3).

Table 3. Project phases linked to job creation and skills development

Construction Operational Decommissioning Closure

Constructing the mine Mining Dismantling Loss of jobs

Once an Environmental Clearance Certificate and a mining licence have been granted, Gecko

intends to start mining rock salt whilst it constructs the re-crystalliser beds and builds the

processing plant. When the salt facility reaches 600,000ta (Phase-1 production), Gecko


estimates that it will create 99 jobs made up of 43 jobs at the mining/production site, 50 jobs for

truck operators taking the salt to Walvis Bay, 2 truck mechanics and four staff at the harbour

storage. Incremental increases in employees will be necessary to meet the demand of attaining

the production levels of 1.3Mta. Table 4 details the number of employees by job category for

600,000mta production levels.

Table 4. Estimated staffing levels and minimum qualifications for 600,000ta salt

Position Skills Qualifications No. of

employees

General Manager Management Degree 1

Project Manager Engineering and Mang’t Degree 1

Construction Manager

Engineering and Mang’t Diploma 1

Production Superintendent

Processing Certificate/Experience 1

Foremen Processing Certificate/Experience 2

Mechanic Mechanical Certificate/Experience 1

Electrician Electrical Certificate/Experience 1

Operators Driving plant equipment Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

10

Cooks Cooking and Cleaning Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

2

General workers

Maintenance, cleaning, general, lab technician, mech. assistants, laundry, plumber, storeman, bus driver

Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

21

Security Guarding Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

2

Truck Operators Driving Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

50

Truck Mechanics Mechanical Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

2

Foreman - Storage Shed at harbour

Supervising, Engineering Certificate/Experience 1

General Workers at Storage Shed at harbour

Maintenance Minimum School leaving certificate (Grade 10)

3

Total number of employees at 600,000ta production levels: 99

The feasibility study estimated that for a production level of 1Mta, 20 people would be needed to

mine the salt and 28 would be needed to process it. With Gecko’s estimate that one truck can

transport 36,000ta, 84 drivers on 3 shifts will be required, giving a potential workforce of 136 to

produce and transport 1Mta purified salt.

Increasing mine processing of 1.5Mta of raw salt will increase the number of jobs in mining and

possibly at the processing plant. It will increase the number of haulage trucks drivers required

to approximately 109, creating over 160 jobs for the entire project.


Assessment of impact

Severity / Nature of Impacts

At a production rate of 1.3 Mt/annum purified salt, approximately 94% of the job opportunities

the project expects to create are in the semi-skilled category which requires only a minimum

Grade 10 education level (Table 5).

Table 5. Number of jobs created by broad skill categories for 1Mta production

Level of skills required for a workforce producing 1Mta salt

Number of jobs

% of jobs in the two categories

Management & Senior technical staff 9 6%

Unskilled - Semi skilled staff (Minimum Grade 10) 152 94%

Total number of employees at full production: 161 100

The project could provide skills development, employment opportunities and a build-up of work

experience for some of the approximately 1,200 residents of Henties Bay who have a minimum

of Grade 10.

Mining is planned for daylight hours whilst processing is planned to use 12 hour shifts, 24

hours/day and 7 days/week. The routine nature of much of the work and these long working hours

will require stringent processing safety standards and human resources retention initiatives.

These long hours will be tough on maintaining quality family life, whether male or female, and will

be even longer if there is additional travelling time home at the end of 12 hour shifts.

Prefabricated accommodation for 36 personnel is already operational at the existing production

facility camp. If staff stay there while on rotation, they could have their family home anywhere in

Namibia.

Some of the truck drivers may come from or want to live in Swakopmund or Walvis Bay where

the larger towns can offer better schools and recreation benefits although the cost of housing is

likely to be higher. Recruitment from Henties Bay will carry a more significant positive local

impact compared to recruitment from Swakopmund or Walvis Bay, where there are more

employment opportunities. The storage shed at the Walvis Bay port will also add job

opportunities to Walvis Bay residents for three general workers and a foreman.

The unemployment rate in the Erongo Region for women is almost double the rate for men

(32% compared to 18%) amounting to over 23,000 unemployed people (NSA, 2015). Increasing

women’s employment rate is an NDP5 indicator. Many mines have found that women truck

drivers and machine operators are more careful and responsible than male counterparts – they

report machine defects and the need for regular maintenance timeously. Thus it is

recommended that job selection gives priority to women, wherever possible.

The creation of new jobs in the region will make an important contribution to the private sector

commitment to the Harambee Prosperity Plan and the impact is therefore rated High Positive.


Duration

The duration of employment creation is ranked high to correspond with the long life of mine and

to acknowledge that work experience builds human capacity for a lifetime and can contribute to

the nation’s sustainable development beyond the life of project.

Spatial scale

The spatial scale is high as people will be employed from across the region and possibly

nationally.

Consequence

The consequence of these positive impacts is high due to their high intensity, their widespread

nature and long duration.

Probability

The probability of these impacts occurring is high – the salt facility will need significant numbers

of semi-skilled labour.

Significance

The significance of these positive impacts is high because the consequence and probability of

the impacts occurring are both high (Table 6).

Table 6. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact - job creation and skills development

Mitigation Severity Duration Spatial

Scale

Consequence Probability of Occurrence

Significance

Unmitigated H+ H H H H H+

Mitigated H+ H H H H H++

Conceptual description of enhancement measures for jobs and skills

Objectives

The enhancement objective is to maximise employment and skills development opportunities,

giving preference to people from Henties Bay and then from the rest of the Erongo Region, thus

enhancing increase the positive significance of the impacts even further.

The mitigation objective is to reduce potential negative impacts brought about by in-migration to

Henties Bay if there was national recruitment.

Proposed Enhancement Actions

The following actions need to be implemented:

i. Establish short, intensive training programmes for machine and truck operators and

other required skills, during construction of the re-crystallisers and processing plant, to

enable people in Henties Bay to take up the majority of low and semi-skilled jobs in the

operations phase;


ii. Give priority to recruiting from Omdel and Omdel informal residents where 34% and 30%

of the population respectively have Grade 10 and above (Urban Dynamics, 2013). This

will make an even greater impact on improving livelihoods amongst the poorest

communities, which will be greatly appreciated by government and local stakeholders.

iii. Give preference for the selection of women for training and recruitment and will develop

a human resource policy which supports women to perform well in the workplace while

balancing their other duties in the family and community;

Give preference during the lifespan of the project to support government’s priority to

focus recruitment and corporate social responsibility on the most deprived constituencies

in the region to address poverty, inequality and exclusion.

iv. Adhere to the Namibian Chamber of Mines Mining Charter, which states that mining

companies must invest at least 2% of their annual gross payrolls every year in

developing the skills of Historically Disadvantaged Namibians (HDN) employees and

other HDNs (CoM, 2014);

v. Ensure that employees, and those of its mining and plant contractors, are paid market

related wages, with housing allowances that can promote home ownership and

contributions to pension contributions and medical aid;

vi. Adhere to the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard Two on labour

and working conditions and “recognise that the pursuit of economic growth through

employment creation and income generation should be accompanied by protection of the

fundamental rights of workers”.

Job losses on project closure

The loss of employment, should the project close, will have a long-term negative impact.

However, reliable and experienced machine and truck operators have transferable skills which

are sought after by other employers (Table 7).

Table 7. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact – job loss on project closure


Scale


Significance

Unmitigated H H H H H H

Mitigated M-H M H M H M

Emergency situation and project closure

An unexpected closure could lead to a sudden loss of jobs. To mitigate this situation and mine

closure,


Gecko should:

i. Encourage and enable employees to diversify and upgrade skills so they benefit from

being able to offer labour flexibility and productivity throughout the lifetime of the project

and particularly should it close.

ii. Ensure skills upgrading during employment is documented and accredited where

possible so skills are recognised with future employers;

iii. As part of its CSR programme, offer training on personal financial management to all

employees so they are better able to adapt to changes in their circumstances;

iv. Ensure that the facility closure plan is understood by the workforce and guarantees final

salary pay-outs and pension transfers.

6.3 Economic Impacts at a local, regional and national level

Table 8. Project phases linked to economic impacts


Constructing the mine Mining/Processing Dismantling Economic decline


Gecko’s exploration data estimates the salt resource within EPL4167 and ML11 is 147,545,966

tons, of which over 130 million tons are found in the top two layers of salt. Salt Partners Ltd,

Zurich conducted a techno-economic and marketing feasibility study for Gecko in 2009 and

designed a crystallising facility for 1.1Mta to be expandable up to 3.3Mta (Salt Partners Ltd,

2009). Even at this highest extraction rate, the resource has the potential to be mined on a very

long-term basis. This section has added 6% annual inflation to all costs in the feasibility study, a

2% escalation price to salt sales on the assumption that operations will begin in 2020. If Gecko

increases the mining rate to 1.5Mta, the estimated forecasts below will increase.

Construction costs for mining

The capital investment estimated in 2009 was N$120 million. Should Gecko start procurement

and construction in 2018/2019, this cost is estimated to have risen to over N$N$190 million,

calculated at an annual inflation of 6% since 2010. The capital expenditure includes:

Importing harvesters and trucks

Constructing dykes and crystalliser excavations

Importing engineering and other services

Local services, administration, taxes etc.

Additional construction costs are wages for an estimated 30 people over the 10 month

construction period.


Mining producing 1.1Mta

The annual salt production costs (mining) during the first year of operations, with the added 6%

annual inflation, are approximately N$25.5 million. Government would gain nearly N$3.2 million

in royalties and nearly N$8.5 million in tax on profits (Based on data in 3389_Report_03_FinCC1).

Given that salt is a low priced bulk commodity, this assessment has escalated the income from

sales from mining to the purification plant at 2%. If production reaches 1.1Mta by year 5, mining

should begin to pay dividends to investors from year 5, if it was run as a separate enterprise.

Construction Costs: Salt purification

The capital investment for the construction of the purification plant, including imported

equipment, engineering services, utilities and site roads will amount to approximately N$223

million, calculated at an annual inflation rate of 6% of the 2009 feasibility study total of N$140

million (Based on data in 3389_Report_03_A1/FinXC1 p1).

Production: Salt purification, stockpiling and transport to Walvis Bay Habour

The 2009 feasibility study estimated that by year 5 of operations, 1 million tons of purified salt

could earn an estimated N$156 million/annum at 2% annual inflation. Total annual production

costs by year 5 are estimated to amount to N$ 121 million. Transport and harbour costs are not

disaggregated in the feasibility study which calculated costs would be N$ 74/ton by Year 5. If

2009 cost estimates were escalated by 6%, the transport costs would have risen to N$ 101/ton.

Gecko has calculated that one truck can transport 36,000ta and it will therefore require 36

trucks and 109 drivers to haul 1.3Mta salt to Walvis Bay annually, contributing over N$14 million

in wages alone to the regional economy.

At a production rate of 1Mta, the feasibility study estimated that Government will benefit from

over N$12 million in royalties and a further N$19 million in other taxes which were calculated at

@ 35%. From the investment in the purification process and transport, investors can expect

dividends after 5 years. (Based on data in 3389_Report_03_A1/FinXC1 p2).

Other direct economic impacts of the project are interest and amortisation payments on capital

and profits of the mining and processing. The employees and contractors will pay personal

income tax and VAT on goods and services they purchase, as will suppliers and their employees

in the supply chains of goods and services.

The induced economic impacts are derived from the purchases of products and services by

employees and contractors as a result of their increased spending power stemming from

salaries and wages. If these products and services are produced locally, there will be greater

economic impact on Henties Bay and the Erongo Region at large. Moreover, this induced level

has its own backward chain of purchases by the employees and contractors down the supply

chain.


Indirect economic impacts arise through the provision of all inputs purchased in order to mine,

purify the salt and transport it to ships, as well as the inputs purchased by their suppliers to

produce the inputs, and so on down the production chain. This backward chain is usually very

extensive and includes the steel, cement, energy, machinery and equipment needed to

construct the processing plant and other buildings; operating inputs and replacement parts, and

a wide variety of scientific, financial, accounting and technical services. For example, during

construction it is expected that gravel, sand, cement, prefabricated parts, transport and labour

will be sourced locally in Namibia. In addition, some services such as security, catering,

contractor / employee transport, laundry and cleaning will probably be outsourced to other

Namibian companies. To align with NDP5, Gecko and its suppliers are urged to purchase

Namibian-made goods or from the South African Development Community businesses which

will increase the multiplier effect on the Namibian economy.

Impact assessment


There will be significant direct economic benefits to the local, regional and national economy

during construction and operations, especially if labour, goods and services are sourced from

within the region whenever possible; these are rated as high positive.

Duration

The duration of these positive impacts is long term as the life of the mine is potentially on-going.

Spatial scale

The spatial scale is high as economic impacts could be felt regionally and nationally.

Consequence

The consequence of the positive economic impacts is high due to the high intensity, the

widespread nature of the economic impacts and their long duration.

Probability

The probability of these impacts occurring is high.

Significance

The significance of the positive impacts is high because the consequence and probability of the

impacts occurring are rated high, as summarised in Table 9.

Table 9. Tabulated summary of positive economic impacts of salt production

Mitigation Severity/ Nature of Impact

Duration of Impact

Spatial

Scale of Impacts


Significance

Unmitigated H+ H H H+ H H+

Enhanced H+ H H H+ H H++


Conceptual description of enhancement measures

Objective

To support the country’s national objective of sustained economic growth, by maximising use of

labour, products and services from the poorest communities, within the Erongo Region and

Namibia as a whole.

Proposed Enhancement Actions

There are a number of ways to strengthen these impacts so the project brings greater benefits

to the local communities most affected by the salt production and to the country as a whole.

The proposed enhancement measures focus on Gecko taking proactive responsibility to

maximise positive impacts which should increase government and stakeholder support for the

company and favourable publicity to the company


i. Minimise accommodation on site so that employees can boost the local economies in

nearby settlements.

ii. Pay attractive salaries and wages;

iii. Have procurement policies that give preference to the purchase of Namibian-made

goods;

iv. Assist the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other local

suppliers to produce and deliver goods and services at a fair price.

v. Facilitate agricultural producers in Henties Bay to increase production in order to sell

produce to the mine and local residents.

vi. Use small-scale contractors and labour intensive work, where possible.

Emergency situation

Should at any point it seem likely that the mine may have to cease operations early and / or go

into care and maintenance, employees, suppliers and all other relevant stakeholders should be

informed promptly and given enough time to make financial adjustments.


6.4 Impact: Increased demand for improved housing and schools

Table 10. Project phases linked to increased demand for housing and schools


N/A*

Constructing the mine Mining/Processing Dismantling -

* N/A – not applicable.

Assessment of impact

The impact of the proposed project on housing and schools in Henties Bay, Swakopmund and

Walvis Bay will depend on the recruitment and housing policies, and shift regimes of the project.

If existing residents are employed, negative impacts are unlikely and additional incomes will

lead to improvements in the towns’ housing stock. Negative impacts could arise if people from

outside the region are employed and job seekers from all over the country arrive and stay,

increasing the pressure on local housing, schools and basic municipal services.

Three scenarios are anticipated:

Option 1: Employees live in Henties Bay

Option 2: Camp accommodation

Option 3: Haulage drivers reside in any three coastal towns

Option 1: Employees live in Henties Bay

The salt mine at Cape Cross is only 45km north of Henties Bay so all mine & processing

employees could live in Henties Bay and commute on a daily basis if they worked an eight or

ten hour shift. However, if Gecko runs twelve hour shifts, this additional travelling time carries

increased risk of accidents at work as workers have little time to rest and relax.

Henties Bay has an oversupply of higher income serviced erven and housing for potential use

by the 8 management & senior technical staff required to operate the mine and plant. Little or

no significant impact is expected in that housing bracket even if senior staff are recruited from

other places.

Lower-skilled employees are likely to stay in Omdel or the informal settlement where there is

already a shortage of housing. The long-term employment prospects offered by the proposed

project will increase their ability to buy a reasonable erf (plot) and/or house in one of the new

lower/middle income extensions planned by the government. If employees are recruited from

among existing residents in the town, it will not add additional housing pressure to the town and

they are likely to participate in improving the housing stock. By full production, if non-residents

or newcomers to the town win the mining, processing and a third of the haulage jobs, then there

is potential that more than 70 new units/families will require housing in Omdel and !Oas. In

2015, there were over 1,400 households in Omdel and !Oas needing proper housing so the

impact of adding another 5% would be low, but not desirable.


Option 2: Camp accommodation

With a 12 hour shift, the use of site-based accommodation would have safety advantages.

Gecko already uses an accommodation camp situated about 2km north of the salt pans for

about 30 workers on the present mining contract for Cape Cross Namib Investment and SaltCo.

If this is used on a long term basis, employees would need to be transported to Henties Bay,

Swakopmund and Walvis Bay for their days’ off-duty. Employees who live in the camp could

originate from anywhere in the country and are likely to invest in housing and schooling in their

home area rather than in Henties Bay. Camp accommodation creates a high negative impact as

it tends to cause higher social costs as partners and parents/children will be separated from

each other for days or weeks at a time.

Option 3: Haulage drivers reside in any three coastal towns

The impact on housing for the anticipated 109 truck drivers (required to haul 1.3Mta to Walvis

Bay) will depend on where overnight truck depos can be established. Truck depos would need

to be established in each town to enable employees to reside with their families at the end of

their shifts. Recruitment from among residents of Henties Bay, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay

would spread the demand for better housing.


Unmitigated, it is assumed that Gecko will employ people from all over Namibia which will

increase the local demand for housing and schools in the three affected towns. This will have a

negative impact but of only medium severity as the current population of the towns are quite

large.

Duration

The duration of the impact on increased housing demand is likely to be felt for several years, i.e.

for medium duration, until employees have begun to invest in home ownership.

Spatial scale

The spatial scale is medium as employees would be encouraged to invest in housing at the

nearby town of Henties Bay and the other coastal towns along the transport route.

Consequence

The consequence of these positive impacts is medium as the intensity, geographic spread and

duration are rated as all medium.

Probability

The probability of this impact occurring is high as most workers will want to live with their

families, rather than at the mine site, unless the mine site is highly subsidized or they do not

have families.


Significance

The significance of the increased demand for housing and schools is medium because of the

medium consequence and high probability of the impacts occurring (Table 11).

Table 11. Tabulated summary of the assessed impact: increased demand for housing & schools


Scale


Significance

Unmitigated M M M M H M

Mitigated M+ M M M+ M M+

Conceptual description of mitigation measures for housing

Objective

The mitigation objective is to minimise an influx of job-seekers and employees from outside the

area in order to reduce the pressure on the existing housing stock and schools. The mitigation

measures turn the impacts from negative to positive.

Proposed Mitigation Actions


i. Recruit unskilled and semi-skilled workers from Henties Bay, provide them with training,

and widely publicise such to reduce an influx of job-seekers who would have increased

pressure on the housing shortfall in Omdel and !Oas.

ii. Set up favourable salary packages which will encourage employees to invest in housing

in Henties Bay and the other coastal towns along the transport route which will improve

the housing stock.

iii. Run eight or ten hour shifts at Cape Cross which would enable all workers to reside in

their own homes in Henties Bay.

iv. Only provide site housing for emergency shift supervision. (The Cape Cross Lodge has

requested that these employees will have restricted movement and not be allowed to

leave the camp, except when being transported to work or home).

It is desirable that:

i. Gecko’s CSR programme should focus attention on the needs of Kamwandi school in

Henties Bay as it has a dire need for additional classrooms to stop the need for

afternoon platoon schooling.


6.5 Impact: Competing land uses – conservation, eco-tourism and mining

Table 12. Project phases linked to competing land uses


N/A*

Constructing the mine Mining/Processing Dismantling -



Three distinct land uses within the EPL are considered:

1. Key priority conservation area – the lagoons and seal colony, where maintaining a

“sense of place13” is essential. Closely aligned with that is:

2. Low impact, eco-friendly tourism – which depends on the conservation areas and

historical industrial remains as draw cards.

3. Mining for salt, guano and base and rare metals

Land use 1: Key priority conservation areas

The proposed project lies within the Dorob National Park. The Cape Cross salt pan is a

brownfield site having been mined for about 100 years for seabird guano and salt. The actual

salt pans where the proposed crystallizers will be constructed are low in bio-diversity. However,

the nearby lagoons to the south west support a rich diversity of birdlife. The lagoons and guano

platforms regularly support over 20,000 birds from 92 species, including 13 Red-listed aquatic

species and 11 species that are endemic or near-endemic to Southern Africa. Over the sand

bar of coastal hummocks is the wild Atlantic Ocean and on the rocky intertidal shores to the

west of the pan is the largest breeding colony of Cape Fur seals of over 110,000 adults

estimated in 2015; this is the protected Cape Cross Seal Reserve.

Land use 2: Low impact, eco-friendly tourism

The seal colony attracted over 40,000 visitors in 2015 who paid over N$3 million in park

entrance fees to government. Most are day visitors while the Cape Cross Lodge promotes

birding and historical tourism to entice overnight visitors. To remain in business, the lodge

regards maintaining a “sense of place” and continued access to the guano platforms and

unspoilt lagoons as essential.

13 A sense of place emerges through experiencing wilderness with all one’s senses and gaining “knowledge of the

geography and geology of an area, its flora and fauna, the legends of a place, and a growing sense of the land and its history”. Dr. Thomas A. Woods, http://www.importanceofplace.com/2009/04/what-is-sense-of-place.html

http://www.importanceofplace.com/2009/04/what-is-sense-of-place.html


Land use 3: Mining and associated processing

Mining for salt and guano is currently carried out by 12 different license holders in the area. Mr

Vermeulen, who has the mining licence closest to the lodge, wants to sell his business with

licence and assets. Currently, Gecko is operating a processing plant within ML11 belonging to

SaltCo and sub-contracts to another mining licence holders, Cape Cross Namibia Investments.

Potential benefits to these neighbours which this proposed project will provide in Phase 1 are

estimated to be N$ 600,000 per year through direct payment for salt sold to Gecko or mining

contracts on other licenses.

Gecko will need to bring additional water and communication links to the area and current

supplies are inadequate for existing users. The impacts of bringing water to the area for mining

purposes were raised during public consultations. Currently water availability for the lodge is a

problem, particularly in peak season and they request this need is considered during the project

design. The lodge is also concerned that bringing water to the area will bring in more

development which could impact negatively on the current sense of place. In terms of

communications, V-SAT is very slow and MTC only provides EDGE in the area. Additional staff,

i.e. users of internet facilities in the area could slow down the connections further and place

strain on the existing communications.

Assessment of Impacts


Once constructed, the proposed salt crystallisers do not generate much noise. They are down

wind of the prevailing south west wind and not visible from the lagoons and seal reserve. Mining

in the salt pan, tourism and restricted access conservation areas have co-existed for many

years. The increased mining rate and concomitant increase in processing may impact on the

sense of place. The EIA must confirm that even night-time processing, when the wind speed

has dropped, should not impact on the lodge.

Thus the severity of the potential competing land use impact on and around the site, from the

socio-economic perspective, is ranked of moderate severity.

Duration

The duration of the mining impact on the other land uses will continue indefinitely for the life of

mine and is therefore high.

Spatial scale

The spatial scale is medium as the impact is beyond the mine site boundary but still local.


Consequence

The consequence of increased mining production is high, even though the severity and the

spatial scale of the impact are of medium intensity, because the duration is high.

Probability

The probability of this impact occurring is high and continuous, 24 hours a day, seven days a

week.

Significance

The significance of the impact is high as both the consequence and probability are high. The

assessment is summarised in Table 13.

Table 13. Tabulated summary of competing land uses


Scale


Significance

Unmitigated M H M H H H

Mitigated L H M M H M

Conceptual description of mitigation measures

The objective is to minimise land use conflict within the Cape Cross area and develop positive

synergies. The following mitigation and enhancement measures should reduce the

consequence and significance of the project on other land uses to medium (Table 1Table 13).


i. Strive to maximise use of the Cape Cross Lodge’s facilities to entertain and

accommodate visitors to the project.

ii. Monitor the impacts of night-time mining and processing on biodiversity and eco-tourism.

If local stakeholders (e.g. lodge and MET) find these impacts harmful to biodiversity and

eco-tourism, Gecko will introduce mitigation measures such as a moratorium on night-

time activities.

iii. Continue to offer to purchase salt and sub-contract mining from other license holders in

the area.

iv. Maintain discussions with neighbouring land users during the design and implementation

stages of developing water sources and improved communications to maximise benefits

to local stakeholders.

The MET needs to:

i. Ensure that any development, even temporary housing, within the Cape Cross area of

the Dorob National Park should be subject to an EIA.


Closure and an emergency situation

Emergency or planned closure will have an impact on these other land users. Emergencies

could be brought about economic or natural forces beyond the control of the company. As a

result the benefits from the project could be reduced or cease. This may have negative

business impacts, such as no local buyer for raw salt or loss of income to the lodge. A reduction

of any negative impacts, such as noise and traffic will restore any loss of the sense of place to

current ‘baseline’ levels.

The following action needs to be implemented:

1. Have a stakeholder engagement plan to inform neighbours as early as possible of any

possible closure.

6.6 Increase in heavy vehicle road traffic

Project phase and link to activities/infrastructure

Table 14. Increase in heavy vehicle road traffic


N/A*

Constructing the mine Mining Dismantling -


Lithon Project Consultants submitted a Traffic Impact and Assessment and Safety Audit to

Gecko in November 2016, which was based on mining up to 1.1 million tons from the Cape

Cross salt pans and transporting it to Walvis Bay by specialised side-tipper trucks with 67 ton

loads. At peak production, a full truck will depart from the mine site every 23 minutes over a 24

hour period, 5 days per week, or more frequently if the confined to daylight hours.

Slow moving heavy trucks hauling the salt along the C34 and D2301 roads between

Swakopmund and Cape Cross, which can have poor visibility at times, could impact negatively

on the local population and tourism. This is the main route used to access Henties Bay, Cape

Cross’s protected areas and Namibia’s northern interior.

The traffic impact is assessed by the traffic assessment and is not part of the socio-economic

scope of this study.


7 Conclusions

The proposed salt production facility will contribute towards the achievement of NDP5 in

creating value-addition to Namibia’s raw materials and in creating jobs.

Many positive impacts can be enhanced with careful management, and mitigation measures

have been proposed which will reduce negative impacts.

The project will make a long-term contribution to the local, regional and national economy as

operations could continue for many decades. It is recommended that mine and processing staff

live permanently in Henties Bay and commute daily to the salt works; on site accommodation

should only be used for emergency shift supervision. This will maximise benefits to the local

economy and to employees’ families. Gecko’s salaries and benefits package must encourage

home ownership which will help improve the housing stock. It is recommended that haulage

truck operators should live in all three coastal towns to maximise the continuous flow of trucks yet

enable the drivers to maintain a stable family life. Unsafe overtaking of these very heavy haulage

trucks on the coastal road where fog, undulating roads with poor road signage, may result in more

road accidents and is a serious concern which should be assessed in the transport study.

Mining in the salt pan, tourism and restricted access conservation areas have co-existed for

many years. There is a risk that increases in mining rates, processing and haulage may impact

on the wider area’s sense of place. This needs to be carefully monitored and if negative

impacts are too significant, mitigation measures may be needed such as a moratorium on night-

time activities. Gecko must take the lead in engaging with local stakeholders to maximise

synergies which will benefit all parties in the Cape Cross area.

Overall, salt mining and purification works will bring much needed, stable, socio-economic

benefits to the local communities. Gecko is already active in the area as a sub-contractor for

other mining licences. This, together with the investments to date such as the feasibility study

and environmental studies, indicates that it is a serious investor and is likely to start developing

the crystallizers once it obtains its mining licence.


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