The Stampriet Aquifer Uranium Mining Association, SAUMA, has called for newly authorised research drilling for the proposed Wings uranium project near Leonardville to be placed on hold until the government publishes the authorisation in full and its groundwater safeguards face independent scrutiny. Headspring Investments announced on November 3 that it had permission from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform to drill additional boreholes for further research. SAUMA wants the document published with the issuing authority, the activities and locations covered, its duration and every condition attached, and an explicit statement of whether any separate authorisation exists for pilot extraction or chemical injection.
Headspring’s own announcement limits the current phase. The company said the research phase will involve no chemical reagents, and that a revised application for pilot testing will follow. SAUMA’s response is that this does not establish approval for chemical leaching, and does not demonstrate that uranium extraction is safe for the Stampriet aquifer. The association remains firmly opposed to in situ leach uranium extraction in the Stampriet Artesian Basin, the groundwater system on which communities, towns and agriculture in the area depend.
A ministry clarification narrows what has actually been approved. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said no permission had been granted for the actual test mining, and that the Environmental Commissioner had disapproved Headspring’s current environmental clearance application for the test in situ leach project because of identified gaps and the need for additional technical information. That is not a permanent rejection: Headspring is expected to collect more data, address the shortcomings and resubmit its environmental impact assessment and management plan for a further decision.
SAUMA is also demanding release of the report from an International Atomic Energy Agency mission that visited Namibia in February, at the government’s request, to study potential groundwater contamination. The report has not been made public. The association argues the shared nature of the aquifer requires consultation with Botswana and South Africa before any pilot extraction is authorised, and has requested an urgent meeting with the responsible ministries and community representatives, with a timetable for publishing the documents.
Jurisdiction watch: this is a permitting transparency dispute at the exploration stage, not a mine approval fight. The research boreholes, the test mining application and any future in situ leach operation are three separate authorisations, and on the ministry’s account only the first has been granted, while the second has been sent back for more work. The political pressure is rising in parallel: a former agriculture minister has publicly called on Parliament to reject a standing committee report recommending Headspring be permitted to drill and conduct in situ leach mining in the basin.