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Female miner sets the trend

Supreme Consolation CC owner, Julia Neumbo.

Supreme Consolation CC owner, Julia Neumbo.

“People do not believe that women can do it because women are still considered to be weaklings and inferior to men, but I said to myself, if men can do it, then so can I,” said Julia Neumbo, managing member of Supreme Consolation CC, discussing her immanent plans to enter the competitive world of mining.
Neumbo told the Economist this week she believes the time has come for women to get involved in mining. It is her response to the government’s call for gender equality, women upliftment and self-employment. She says women must now take the lead. She is the driving force in a new venture in exploration near Karasburg.
A female in the male-dominated industry, Neumbo said operating in the mining industry has always been her dream saying that the concept came as an idea, therefore she believes it is God given.
After being granted EPL 4615 by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in July last year, the self-employed mother of three says her only constraint right now is finding suitable investors to plough into the mine.
“We are still in the beginners phase and have yet to start with full exploration operations. What we are currently focusing on right now, is finding potential investors, especially foreign investors who are willing to inject into the project,” says Neumbo.
Explaining her strategy in more detail, she says the reason why they are keen on finding foreign investors is because of their level of expertise. “Most of the investors that we are aiming for and that are showing keen interest in the mine are foreign investors and this is what we want as they have greater expertise and experience and are more success-minded but we are yet to meet these investors.”
She says that although they are still accumulating the funds to start the mine’s exploration stage, they expect to have an estimated N$5 million at their disposal soon, to start operations. Therefore they foresee mining exploration kicking off before year end.
Neumbo says that although the exploration stage will only employ a few people, as exploration  continues, they will employ more local people. “With the country having such high unemployment rates, we want to create employment for Namibians and hope to employ up to a hundred workers in the next few mining years ahead.”
Supreme Consolation CC set its eyes on the area near Karasburg, taking their cue from comparable mining operations influenced by natural topography. “We have reason to believe the area is rich in mineral deposits such as gold and base metals because of the fact that the surface presence of these minerals are often associated with riverbeds.”
Neumbo says although finance at this point in time is the biggest obstacle they are facing, she is confident that exploration will kick off during the course of the year.
Supreme Consolidation is registered to mine base and rare metals, dimension stone, industrial minerals, precious metals, precious stones and semi-precious stones.

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