The Ministry of Mines and Energy sent a team to investigate the “unfamiliar content” discovered in the Vaalgras area in the //Kharas region over the weekend.
Senior public relations officer in the ministry, Andreas Simon said the ministry is aware of the content that is alleged to be oil that was discovered while a company was drilling boreholes in the area. He said a high level team from the ministry was already dispatched yesterday morning to the site to assess the situation as well as collecting samples of the supposedly oil discovery.
“The ministry did receive some pictures from the area, we are aware,” he said.
Andreas yesterday called upon Namibians to remain calm while the necessary investigations are carried out by the ministry.
“We now have to figure out whether it is oil and for all we know these pictures could have been taken anywhere. The substance could be anything. It could be manganese, could be a mixture or iron and few bits of oil. Hence the ministry will have to do a full investigation to confirm that. We don’t know whether the substance look and feel as oil,” Andreas explained.
“The team will now get samples of the substance, as well as the GPS coordination of the exact location of the discovery. We will only pronounce ourselves once these samples have been tested either by our own laboratory. However, if we need in-depth analysis we will approach capable centres either in the country or elsewhere. We will only know later this week whether it is indeed oil or not, Andreas said.
According to Simon, a company was commissioned by a farmer to drill two boreholes at a farm in the Vaalgras area and during the process found the unfamiliar content.
“This company had received a permit from the ministry of agriculture to drill the boreholes and when they found this content spilling over they contacted the ministry of agriculture, which then referred them to us. When we look at the depth of the drill it is not deep enough for the discovery of oil, however, we will wait for the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
“The first hole did not yield any results and they went on to drill the second hole for about 100 metres but still could not find water. That’s when they decided to drill for a further 150 meters’ ad found a substance that looks like oil came gushing out of the second hole,” he explained.
Hence he says it is premature to confirm whether it is indeed oil.
Vaalgras is located some 60 kilometres northeast of Keetmanshoop.