Uranium mining in Namibia

In the late 1950s, Anglo America Corporation of South Africa drilled and performed some underground exploration, but because of unstable uranium values and poor economic prospects, the search was abandoned.

[7] Jacob et al. reported in the mid-1980s that the country's uranium mineralization was concentrated in the central zone of the Pan-African Damaran Orogen.

The necessity for uranium came to be after the COP 26 Convention where many of the member states of the United Nations agreed to reduce their carbon emissions by 2030.

Currently nuclear energy provides 10% of the world's electricity and with the Pandemic subsiding, the upwards trajectory of the uranium market is expected to continue.

The mining industry make up a considerable portion of the Namibian economy, consisting of approximately 10% of its GDP and 50% of its total exports.

This suggests that the Namibian economy is susceptible to economic instability if the uranium markets experience decreases in price or demand.

[15] Rössing Uranium is owned by Rio Tinto, the world's largest mining group, which has annual profits of over $1.4 billion.

[citation needed] Australian-listed company Deep Yellow Limited is currently undertaking a definite feasibility study on the Tumas paleochannel uranium system and is expected to reach its advanced stage at the beginning of 2023.

[23] Forsys Metals Corporation of Canada is developing the Valencia and Namibplaas uranium deposits, 40 km north of the Langer Heinrich mine.

The company was granted a 25-year mining license in 2008 and, in 2009, announced the completion of an independent mineral resource study for the Valencia deposit.

These laws must ensure uranium mining's validity while taking into account how the waste produced is disposed of properly with necessary precautions being taken.

This gas can also affect nearby residents meaning this issue can impact the health of innocent people you have no affiliation with these projects.

Radon gas and contamination can also cause cancer, birth defects, increase infant mortality, and cause various lung, eye, and skin related illnesses.

[30] Monitoring activities include: air, water, and dust quality; biodiversity; medical surveillance; occupational hazards; and radiation protection.

The fifth National Development Plan of Namibia specifies how the mining projects can better achieve economic progression, social transformation, environmental sustainability, and good governance over the course of 2017–2022.

This plan analyzes important metrics such as demographic data, poverty rates, human development indexes, environmental resilience, and governance scores in an attempt to quantify progress and identify weak areas that need to improve.