Second uranium mine gets off ground

DESPITE protests by Earthlife Namibia, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and the German Oeko Institute, the Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine proceeded with its groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.

Mines Minister Erkki Nghimtina was there to do the honours. The event marked the formal beginning of uranium mining at the site, 80 kilometres east of Swakopmund.The Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine, wholly owned by Australian exploration and development company Paladin Resources, got the go-ahead from the Namibian Government last month when the Ministry of Mines and Energy awarded them a 25-year mining licence in the protected Namib-Naukluft Park.This has caused an outcry among environmentalists and the Namibian public.The main concerns centre on the polluting of ground and surface water sources, the emission of radioactive dust and the ecological impact on plants and animals in the environmentally vulnerable Namib-Naukluft Park.”It is like licensing our death and destruction,” said NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh, who organised a small protest at the entrance to the reserve.The environmental impact assessment (EIA) done by the mining project last year was refuted by Germany’s Oeko Institute, which claims that Paladin’s predictions on possible radiation were not calculated accurately.Because of low uranium prices in the recent past, Langer Heinrich will be the first conventional uranium mine in the world to be built in two decades.The event marked the formal beginning of uranium mining at the site, 80 kilometres east of Swakopmund.The Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine, wholly owned by Australian exploration and development company Paladin Resources, got the go-ahead from the Namibian Government last month when the Ministry of Mines and Energy awarded them a 25-year mining licence in the protected Namib-Naukluft Park.This has caused an outcry among environmentalists and the Namibian public.The main concerns centre on the polluting of ground and surface water sources, the emission of radioactive dust and the ecological impact on plants and animals in the environmentally vulnerable Namib-Naukluft Park.”It is like licensing our death and destruction,” said NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh, who organised a small protest at the entrance to the reserve.The environmental impact assessment (EIA) done by the mining project last year was refuted by Germany’s Oeko Institute, which claims that Paladin’s predictions on possible radiation were not calculated accurately.Because of low uranium prices in the recent past, Langer Heinrich will be the first conventional uranium mine in the world to be built in two decades.