Leonardville — As environmental ists and wealthy farmers vehemently oppose its operations and exploration plans, Uranium One yesterday opened an office in Leonardville, amidst calls from locals to allow the company to mine in the area in the hope that jobs and investment will alleviate debilitating poverty.
A carnival atmosphere prevailed in this sleepy village in the Omaheke region the whole day. The community has no doubt that Uranium One is committed to pull them from darkness and take them to the land of milk and honey.
Patrobas Ngarizemo, a farmer who resides about 30km south of Leonardville, said he has no doubt about the project.
"This company did not come straight from Russia to the Omaheke region, they passed through the government.
I stay around these people, and these people are dying of hunger. The reality here is tough. Rejecting the project from far is fine, but people here are of the conclusion that let the water contamination (if there will be any) kill us; there is no difference with today's hunger," observed the emotional farmer.
The chairperson of the Leonardville Village Council, Petra Witbooi, said the opening of the office should open the floodgates for the development of the village. She also has no doubt that the company will help tackle unemployment and poverty in the village.
Omaheke governor Pijoo Nganate urged Namibians to put emotions and prejudices aside in dealing with Uranium One's controversial mining operations in the area.
This is in stark contrast to a firm stance taken late last year by agriculture, water and land reform minister Calle Schlettwein, who said no uranium mining would be approved in order to safeguard the quality of scarce groundwater resources in the vicinity.
"My presence in Leonardville at the opening of Uranium One's office, whose exploration is on halt currently, is raising many eyebrows. I am here to build valuable partnerships that are aimed to transform this region. We see farmers and traditional leaders in our midst. These people are not crazy, but rather they see a bright future through Uranium One operations," said the governor during the opening ceremony.
The village's inhabitants attended the joyful event with the hope that the company will transform the village and help them tackle issues of poverty and unemployment.
Headspring Investments is the Namibian subsidiary of the Russian company Uranium One, which in turn is part of the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom.
The company's exploration has now been halted for almost a year. It is expected to use ISL, also called in-situ recovery (ISR) or solution mining. ISR is an extraction process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit.
The extraction process initially involves the drilling of holes into the ore deposit.
Schlettwein at the time was adamant that Uranium One must present scientific data to show no contamination of underground water would occur if the company is granted permits to continue with uranium exploration.
Some farmers in the area do not want the company to continue its exploration activities due to the fear of contaminating the groundwater.
Headspring Investment recently approached the High Court on the matter as an applicant, where 39 parties are cited as respondents. These include the ministers of agriculture, water and land reform; mines and energy; environment, forestry and tourism; director of the department of water affairs; chairperson of the advisory water board of Namibia; the mining commissioner; the government of Namibia; the Aminuis Village Council; Leonardville Village Council; up to 38 individual farmers; as well as the environmental commissioner.
The relief sought by Uranium One is to review and set aside the decision by the agriculture and water ministry to refuse to issue an exploration drilling permit.
Headspring Investment bases its review application on Article 18 of the Namibian Constitution, which states:
"Adminis t r at ive bodies and administrative officials shall act fairly and reasonably, and comply with the requirements imposed upon such bodies and officials by common law and any relevant legislation, and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions shall have the right to seek redress before a competent court or tribunal."
Yesterday was the deadline for the ministry to submit arguments.
At the event, Nganate urged those who oppose the company's operations to resolve the issue through dialogue. If that is exhausted, the governor advised them to seek knowledge from the knowledgeable.
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"Come around the table, and tackle the issue of 'fear of the unknown'. As a politician with the background of an ordinary history teacher, I can not take the decision whether Uranium One's proposed mining method is safe or not. So, the company should prove the community wrong," he urged.
At the same occasion, Kirill Egorov- Kirillov, who is the director of mines in Uranium One and director of Headspring Investment, said they remain confident that the project will become fruitful.
Egorov-Kirillov added that they are determined to help the community and country at large.
Uranium One spokesperson Riaan van Rooyen said in a statement yesterday that the company already started to invest heavily in the upliftment of the Leonardville community. He noted that the company had spent over N$3.8 million on corporate social responsibility (CSR), and has invested N$850 million thus far on exploration processes.
Van Rooyen said the contribution to the government on taxes and royalties will be immense.
"We plan, and actually we started buying from farmers around the village to make sure everyone benefits".
