The recent surge in the number of mining operations in and on the fringes of Southern African conservation areas is disturbing. This was hammered home to us on our recent trip to the Namib-Naukluft Park in the central Namib Desert. The area has experienced mining since German colonial times, with small mines exploiting deposits of mica and copper, amongst others, but this was long before the park was proclaimed.

 

Then in the 1970’s the Rossing Mine was opened on the park’s north-wester...


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