A Namibian delegation comprising farmers, engineers, environmental specialists, students and media practitioners recently toured Russia's Dalur uranium mine in the Kurgan region.
The visit focused on uranium extraction technologies and environmental management systems linked to nuclear energy development.
The delegation visited the Dalur In-Situ Recovery uranium mine in Russia's Dolmatovsky District.
The operation uses solution mining technology, also known as 'in-situ recovery', where uranium is extracted underground without the need for open-pit excavation.
Nghifitikeko Padjelenga, head of the delegation, gave an update: "These mining methods can coexist with farming, and they have learned all the mitigation measures in place for the monitoring board, manual and automatic mitigation measures. So they have learned a lot. They have seen. They have asked their questions to the people on the ground, not to us here in Namibia, but to the people that are actually working in that particular setting in Russia."
Headspring Investments, a Russian-owned subsidiary of Rosatom, is currently conducting uranium exploration activities in Namibia's Omaheke Region.
Community representative and student Ivanka Conradie from Leonardville formed part of the delegation to better understand the technologies being proposed.
"The mining method is over thirty years old, and it's developed a lot of things, and most mitigation actions that have been needed to combat it have been discovered, and they know what they're doing, and they can teach us how to benefit from what is beneath our soil."
Farmers also raised concerns surrounding community consultation and highlighted the long-term coexistence of mining and agricultural activities in the Omaheke Region.
Dylan Mukoroli and Bernhardt Van Schalkwyk, farmers from the Omaheke Region, also formed part of the delegation.
"The main demand at that time is that we must simplify this process so that the community members that have an informal education but are the beneficiaries of this process must be able to understand what it is that they intend to do. When you hear the words 'sulphuric acid', what you were taught in school is that it's a mineral to kill you. You're now telling me it's said that you're going to inject that very same mineral into the water that your cattle and you are drinking. Of course, it's going to be a lot of fear that comes from that. So community consultation is definitely quite important."
"The big concern for, I speak for every farmer, is the underwater being contaminated. This will influence the farming drastically. And after what I've seen in Dalur, I believe you can safely extract uranium when it's done correctly and with the correct equipment."