A CONSULTING company has cut ties with a Russian state-owned entity exploring for uranium in the Omaheke region after complaining about a lack of information to determine whether mining activities would contaminate Namibia’s underground water.
The company, Environmental Compliance Consultancy (ECC), was contracted by Uranium One to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment for the proposed uranium mining pilot project in the Leonardville area.
Residents have over the past months raised red flags about uranium activities, including concerns about the contamination of the Stampriet artesian basin which covers a large arid region stretching from central Namibia into Botswana and South Africa.
The environmental company tasked with investigating possible dangers to that aquifer has now decided to pull the plug.
“Irreconcilable differences arose between ECC and Headspring Investments [Uranium One], resulting in ECC to formally withdraw their professional environmental consulting services from the project and the proponent,” the environment company says in a statement.
The consulting company allegedly found it difficult to obtain information from the Russian uranium company.
Sources say ECC requested information from the Russian firm, but they received insufficient answers.
This, sources say, has frustrated the company as it would not be allowed to meet deadlines and produce science-based advice.
The company feared it could mislead Namibians on the safety of the project, sources say.
The environmental assessment company says it is a “Namibian environmental firm that takes pride in conducting ethical, high-quality environmental and social impact assessments that follow a methodology of evidence-based science and best practice”.
According to the statement, ECC completed a detailed round of public consultations on the project and prepared a draft scoping report.
“ECC also prepared detailed terms of reference for a specialist groundwater study – the most important and controversial component of the proposed in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mining.”
The uranium debate has dominated public discussions in the past months.
Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE) chief executive officer Chris Brown last month said the exploration method proposed by the Russian company would inevitably result in leakage into the aquifer, which would then become contaminated with radioactive uranium.
“The entire Kalahari basin is dependent on groundwater – towns, villages, farms, tourism establishments, irrigation, domestic stock and wildlife. The aquifer system is shared with Botswana and South Africa. Impacts would go far beyond the basin and threaten tourism generally, and export markets for beef and other products,” he said.
Brown said the Russian-owned company used a Kazakhstan company to conduct a groundwater study, although they were expecting a local firm to do it.
“Needless to say, the work was hopeless. It was sent to an independent and reputable company in Cape Town, which had worked in Namibia and enjoyed the confidence of the government and the private sector. Their report, which the Russians have kept out of the public domain, found the Kazakhstan report to fall seriously short in many ways, not least that they provided virtually no data to support the results of their modelling,” he said.
Brown said this is a major issue for the farmers and others in the Kalahari.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has threatened to take legal action to block Uranium One from continuing its planned exploration activities.
LPM leader Bernadus Swartbooi says: “We cannot have in the Aminuis, Stampriet and Aranos basin uranium mining that will destroy vast areas of our agricultural sector.”
He says despite the country harbouring many uranium mines, no Namibian has benefited except by being employed.
Uranium One recently sent six Namibian journalists to Kazakhstan to observe similar mining activities.
Uranium One spokesperson Riaan van Rooyen last month said they cannot comment on “generalisations, wrong assumptions and slanderous, false accusations. The article has been forwarded to our legal counsel and the case is now sub judice”.
Meanwhile, minister of mines and energy Tom Alweendo says the ministry would continue to monitor the company’s activities to ensure it complies with all the conditions of its exploration licence.
