The Russian-state-owned Uranium One’s Namibian subsidiary, Headspring Investment, can now build a field laboratory in the Omaheke region.
The company says the environment ministry granted it a clearance certificate on 10 October 2023 that expires on 10 October 2026.
The laboratory will be on Farm Tripoli, about 15km outside Leonardville and about 200km from the capital, Windhoek.
Uranium One director of mines Kirill Egorov-Kirillov said the field laboratory makes it cheaper and faster to examine core samples and determine where the uranium ore body is situated and the grade of the uranium ore.
Uranium One, through Headspring Investments, has been exploring for uranium in Namibia since 2010.
In January 2023, the agriculture ministry denied Uranium One a drilling licence, saying the company’s methods could pollute underground water.
Uranium One uses the in-situ leaching method that involves recovering minerals by dissolving them in an acid pumped into the ground and then pumping the solution back to the surface.
