Catherine Sasman
Mining commissioner Erasmus Shivolo said if it is found the proposed in-situ leach uranium mining process in the Stampriet Artesian Basin (SAB) area will harm the aquifer, the project will be stopped.
“I am a Namibian, and as a Namibian, if it is true that this proposed method of mining is going to destroy the aquifer, then we will not allow it. So far, we do not know, and the reason why we do not know is because an application for a mining licence has not yet been submitted to us,” Shivolo said.
He said if an application for a mining licence from a Russian company, Headspring Investments or any other company that received a uranium exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) does not meet the requirements and provisions of Namibia’s laws, it will “not pass the test”.
“We all need to compare notes to get to the bottom of this. Farmers obviously have some information, as have the ministries of agriculture and environment. We need to come together to discuss this,” he said.
Headspring Investments in public consultations that took place last year said it
is committed to the highest environmental standards, health and safety of its employees, and long-term sustainability of the diverse communities across the globe.
Last month, the company reiterated all chemicals being used in its exploration activities are environmentally friendly, compared to conventional open-pit and underground mining; thus, farmers in the area should not be worried.
The company is expected to use the in-situ leaching (ISL) method to extract uranium.
ISL, also called in-situ recovery (ISR) or solution mining, is a mining process used to recover minerals, such as copper and uranium, through boreholes drilled into a deposit.
In-situ leach works by artificially dissolving minerals occurring naturally in a solid state.
Uranium One operates six in-situ recovery mines in Kazakhstan, which has a total yearly uranium production of 10 000 tonnes.
The 25-year Namibian project is anticipated to be of the same scale as one of the mines in Kazakhstan.
So far, four exploration rigs have been set up in the region.
Once it starts mining, the company said it could invest between US$300 million to US$500 million over 25 years.
It described the in-situ recovery process as a “progressive technology with a closed cycle”, where a leaching solution is first pumped into injection wells – and after uranium is extracted above ground, the leaching solution is pumped back into the injection wells after a reagent has been added.
According to consulting geologist Dr
Roy Miller, leachate is a weak sulphuric
acid that will continuously be recycled.
This is what farmers fear; accidents do happen and things break, they say.
Citing various reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Stampriet Aquifer Uranium Mining Committee (SAUMC) says it is clear the leach solutions containing dissolved uranium do escape from the mining area into the aquifer and 100% recovery of the leaching solutions “is not practically possible”.
“Up to 4% of the leachate with dissolved uranium and poisonous heavy metals can and does escape into and contaminate the aquifer. Furthermore, borehole casing breaks, screens break and pumps break – all of which enable further escape of the leachate and contamination of the aquifer,” the committee said in its submission to ministries.
“For me, it is about what is right or wrong. As a society, we have to govern ourselves in such a way that many people get jobs, but not by polluting people and the environment at the same time. We cannot play Russian roulette with our country,” said SAUMC chairperson Divan Opperman.
Oppermann added: “It is either uranium or the survival of the south, its people, animals and plants. They may say this is risk-free, but there may come a day or a date when everything goes wrong”.
Worldwide, the SAUMC argue, such mining projects take place in areas with highly saline, undrinkable groundwater.
For example, of the 24 projects in the United States of America, none of them takes place in drinking water.
If uranium mining licenses are granted in the SAB area, it will reportedly be the first time uranium will be mined on top of a freshwater aquifer.
‘Scepticism’
The farming community in the Leonardville and Stampriet areas are very sceptical of the intentions of the Russians that have been drilling in the south for more than 10 years.
Silke Müller of Farm San Remo outside Leonardville said Headspring has been drilling more than 100 holes since 2013 on the farm without initially informing the farm owners what it was they were prospecting for.
Member of SAUMC Rainer Ling said many of the farmers that have entered into agreements with Headspring were “too gutgläubig” that they readily believed what they were told.
“They [Headspring] were clandestinely busy for the last 10 years. Why not do it in the open?” Ling questioned.
He said the farming community only became aware of Headspring’s uranium mining plans around August 2021 when one of the farmers spotted a small information board placed along the gravel road outside the gate of one of the farms.
“That was when we realised there is a big mining thing happening here,” Ling said.
For SAUMC chairperson Opperman, the withdrawal of two drilling permits due to non-compliance by Headspring is a big red flag: “What makes people think the company will behave differently [should actual mining be allowed] if it was non-compliant with ordinary test holes?”
He added: “How do you govern people you cannot trust? Trust is good, but control is better. However, it seems we do not have any control over this matter. There was no control exercised over Headspring’s activities. Who came to oversee how many holes were drilled?”
Some members of the Leonardville farming union have reported they had to pump water from their boreholes for days after they found oil in troughs, which they think is a result of the increased drilling in the area.
“Where were the mines and environment ministries when these things happened?” Opperman questioned.
Pietie du Toit, owner of the Toitjie Lodge and small retail outfit at Leonardville that does a lot of business with the Russians, scoffed at the farmers’ wariness of the foreigners in their midst.
“They are just chasing ghosts,” du Toit shrugged.
“Headspring is merely doing prospecting at this stage.”
– Additional reporting by Maihapa Ndjavera