Geologist Dr Roy Miller said Headspring Investments proposed drilling for uranium in the Leonardville area in the Omaheke region could contaminate the underground water.
Dr Miller presented his findings on Friday before a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Economics and the Stampriet Aquifer Uranium Association members at Leonardville in the Omaheke region.
Headspring Investments, a Namibian registered operating company, is 100% owned by the Russian state-owned Uranium One, which is 100% owned by ROSATOM.
The current area of interest is within a 40km radius of Leonardville, in the Windhoek/Gobabis/Mariental Districts, Khomas, Omaheke and Hardap Regions of eastern Namibia.
Headspring plans to expand its operations for this project and would like to continue to explore the availability of base metals, rare metals, and nuclear fuel minerals at the EPL 4655.
The company wants to extract uranium through in situ recovery (ISR), as open pit and shaft mining are not practical options.
The Stampriet communities are unhappy with the company’s proposed extraction methods, arguing that they will contaminate the underground water.
This led to the formation of the Stampriet Aquifer Uranium Association, whose primary goal is to protect the Stampriet Aquifer Basin.
The association says this aquifer sustains settlements, nourishes farms, and maintains our unique semi-desert ecosystem.
Dr Miller said they are not fighting the proposed development as perceived by many but are questioning the method that could contaminate the underground water.
“The exploration wells go down to 100 to 150m, so it’s the same layer of uranium as the drinking water,” he said, adding that the drinking water is top quality throughout the basin.
Dr Miller has spoken against the in-situ method before.
In August 2022, Dr Miller told the Omaheke governor, Pio Nganate, that the whole area depends entirely on high-quality artesian to subartesian groundwater for survival.
“The water table in the basin is so high that the uranium cannot be mined by conventional open-pit or underground mines. It can only be mined by a process called in-situ leach (ISL) mining,” he adds.
Dr Miller said that a pattern of boreholes is drilled into the orebody during ISL mining, and in the centre of each pattern is a single abstraction borehole.
“The remaining boreholes forming the margin of the pattern are injection boreholes. A leach solution of groundwater and sulphuric acid, similar to battery acid, is pumped down into the orebody,” he said.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Economics chairperson Tjekero Tweya said they would study the findings before making a final decision.
“You hear you go and verify the same with us here. The list is factual and scientific,” Tweya said.
He added, “As much as everything appears clear, we still need scientists to verify what we hear, so this is not the end. So, the engagement and the dialogue will continue until we get to the real issue.”
Minister for Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform Calle Schlettwein refused to grant Headspring Investments a permit for uranium mining In December 2022.
