Wednesday 19th August-Mine visits

We had a day out from the seminar room today to visit the two uranium mines actively working in Namibia at the moment. We began with some presentatiions by staff of the Rossing mine and then took a bus out to the site near the town of Arandis. As you can see it is long desert drive through a very parched countryside

The mine has been operating for 30 years or so and as a result it is a big pit now...................

It is about 3000 m long, 1750 m wide and 600 m deep and they are not finished yet
by a long way!

The site is extensive and we were taken to a number of locations for technical presentations and discussions. It was a great visit.

Then we returned to town to get another bus to another mine. On the drive across another stretch of sandy plain, with a bit of dry grass this time, we saw a few wild animals..........but mostly too far away for good pictures but ostrich, sprongbok, and oryx were all seen.

All in all it was a grand day out and very instructive for our participants as well as interesting for the lecturers as well.