The residents of Noordoewer also petitioned !Haib Minerals (PTY) Ltd and Ferrodrill Namibia for overlooking locals when there are job opportunities.

They demanded the company present a well-defined social responsibility plan for the Noordoewer settlement.

"We demand that preference be given to local residents for positions they qualify for. From this point  forward we insist that all available jobs that do not require specialised skills be reserved for Noordoewer residents,"  said group spokesperson Reggie Jossop.

The Exploration Manager for !Haib Minerals, Emmanuel Shilongo, accepted the petition, explaining, "We are not a mining company. We're not mining. We're exploring. All we are doing is collecting samples. Number three, I would like to mention that 60% of our full-time workforce has been employed from Noordoewer. It might be a different case for our contractors. But what is definitely lacking here is community engagement. Our company underwent a senior management change last year. So, someone has been employed or appointed to come and look after all these community engagement items."

Shilongo explained the company's drilling and exploration activities. 

"Currently we have two drill rigs there doing day and night shifts. We are busy scaling up, so we have two more rigs coming this week, over the weekend. And then we will have four more coming in the next few days. So, we should have 8 rigs running by the end of March. Six of those will be on the day and night shifts, and the other will be on the day shift. So, we have a big diamond drilling program with 50,000 meters of core drilling. We are well financed, and we have a strong technical team that is leading the !Haib Project." 

The nbc News team was then shown a selection of rock samples extracted from recent drilling efforts.

The samples were analysed for copper, gold, molybdenum, and 32 other elements.

Shilongo was optimistic that the exploration project would yield positive results.