Staff Reporter
RUSSIAN state-owned company Rosatom, through its Namibian subsidiary Headspring Investments, has claimed that groundwater in one of the aquifers in the Stampriet Basin, where it proposes to undertake uranium mining, is already contaminated.
According to the company, uranium levels in one of the aquifers they drilled in are approximately 300 times higher than World Health Organization drinking water guidelines of 0.5 Bq/L (Becquerels per litre), indicating elevated radioactivity posing a risk to human consumption.
Kirill Egorov-Kirillov, director of Headspring Investments, said that Rosatom, together with its partners, currently produces 10,000.00 tons of uranium per year.
Egorov-Kirillov said uranium is self-decaying, which has caused the release of some radionuclides into the water. “It’s not our fault, it’s probably God’s fault, we just found it,” Egorov-Kirillov said.
Amid water safety concerns, the director said that it currently awaits an independent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which conducted an independent expert study following a technical review of the proposed Stampriet uranium in situ leaching (ISL) test mining project in the Omaheke Region. The report is said to have been received from the IAEA by the Namibian government and is currently in the hands of Cabinet.
These sentiments on water safety were repeated by the operations manager at Headspring Investments, Abel Nghifitikeko. “This project is an eye-opener, because in Namibia people never tested for radionuclides until we started that exploration. When we started doing our baseline data collection, we sampled boreholes from the farms, the ones farmers are using. Some of the farmers’ boreholes have some of these elevated radionuclides. How is it fresh if you have the highest radionuclides in the water?” Nghifitikeko said.
He added that mining would not be in fresh water, but in areas where there is high radioactivity, and that the company aims to protect fresh water by sealing off part of the basin.
Egorov-Kirillov added that currently the company is at the exploration stage and currently has eight EPLs (Exclusive Prospecting Licences) and has applied for an Environmental Clearance Certificate for test mining.
“We have a radiation management plan, and we are awaiting drilling permits from the Ministry of Agriculture and Water. Here in Namibia, we already found a huge deposit of uranium, of around 50,000.00 tons of uranium. Potentially it can be one of the biggest uranium mining projects,” Egorov-Kirillov said.
Dr Felix Naanda, a radiation safety engineer, said that currently the Stampriet Basin has a total of five separate aquifers, which include the Auob, Nosob and Kalahari.
Dr Naanda said that before mining started, the company conducted baseline data on the status of the aquifers and what possible changes mining operations might have on the underground water. Dr Naanda said that the five aquifers exist in layers and are not connected, adding that the company is currently conducting testing on two of the aquifers, which include the Kalahari and Auob.
He added that farmers mostly use the Kalahari aquifer, whilst only 10% use the Auob aquifer.
Dr Naanda said that currently the aquifer in Auob is naturally contaminated and is above WHO guidelines.
The company, however, said that it is currently depending on the slow movement of water in the basin, about 1 to 3 metres per year, to detect any spillage into the aquifer of the acid solutions pumped into the aquifer.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: Headspring Investments
