news from our media room:

- 1: poer-poer run purrrrr's out of windhoek [more]
- 2: desert wolve's ride to cape town on 105cc scooters [more]
- 3: expressions business bio [more]
- 4: public relations - [more]
- 5: expressions get published! [more]
- 6: valencia uranium mine [more]
- 7: oewona namibia river challenge [more]

EDITORIAL FOR ECONOMIST MINING SUPPLEMENT
Introduction
Valencia Uranium (Pty) Limited is the third uranium mine to obtain a uranium mining license, in Namibia. Already at an advanced stage of exploration the Valencia operation is situated just east of the Khan River, in the Erongo Region. With a focused approach and the backing of internationally listed company, Forsys Metals Corp, Valencia Uranium is the group’s flagship operation and is committed to implementing and adhering to sound business and mining principles. These include employing and developing suitably qualified Namibians, sensitivity to the natural and social environment and ensuring state of the art mining processes and procedures.

Development of existing and new staff
The exploration phase is well underway and is planned to continue until at least the end of 2009. As the site and plant grows, so too does the staff compliment and currently Valencia has 45 permanent staff members of which 40 are Namibian citizens, situated either on-site or at the head office, in Windhoek. One of the aims of the leadership of Valencia, is to ensure continuous on-the-job training and development for all employees. Of the 45 staff members, 18 have a tertiary qualifications. As soon as the next phase of the project starts, the Valencia Bursary Scheme will be registered and the process of recruitment and selection of bursary students will start. Forsys Metals has already started with a development programme in Namibia and during the past year some 10 students, from Namibia, completed various practical on-site training modules.

Employment creation
As with any new major investment, the opportunity for employment creation exists and Valencia is no different. Once the mine is at full production, approximately 600 – 800 staff members will be permanently employed either at the mine, at the head office or on a contractor basis.

Access to the mine
One of the other exciting projects currently underway is access to the mine from the B2 highway. A secure, 30 kilometer road is being built which will allow staff, contractors and suppliers easy access to the mine. The road is an environmentally-friendly project and in places was purposefully diverted, to ensure the safeguarding of certain flora and other natural elements. The road is being built by highly skilled and experienced Namibian contractors, who have ensured the highest quality and regard for the environment and surrounds

Water and sewerage at the construction camp
One of the considerations when establishing the staff site camp was the need for portable water and the effective disposal of sewerage. At the Valencia camp, brackish water is processed through a reverse osmosis plant which renders portable water to everyone on site. When dealing with the camp’s sewerage and waste water, a biological filter system was installed, which ensures that no harmful chemicals are transported into the soil or ground water. The system is a Namibian system and is maintained by Valencia staff.

The Elephant Foot Plant (Adenia Pechuelii)
One of the environmental challenges which faced the Valencia team, who arrived on site to set up the exploration equipment, was the more than 500 Elephant Foot plants, which lay in the middle of the exploration area. This is by far one of the biggest and most dense populations, of the Elephant Foot plants, in Namibia. Further, the Elephant Foot plant is extremely slow growing and as Valencia is committed to ensuring minimum damage or disturbance to the environment, it was agreed that these plants will all be uprooted and replanted in a phased project approach. With special machinery, a crew of about 8 and great care, 60 plants have already been replanted in an area, which will allow them to continue growing without further disturbance. As the mine project progresses, so too will this project to ensure the rehabilitation of the Elephant Foot plant population.

Contact us
For more information about the Valencia and other exciting projects, please email vul@forsysmetals.com

OEWONA NAMIBIA RIVER CHALLENGE BECOMES A REALITY 22 April 2009
[ visit the Oewona website ] [ see newspaper clipping ]

Launched in August 2008, the Oewona (Organisation for the Empowerment of Widows/Widowers and Orphans of HIV/AIDS in Namibia) Namibia River Challenge is fast gaining momentum and the organisers are hard at work trying to finalise all the logistical and event arrangements. The event kicks off on 10 May at 12:00 when a convoy of approximately 26 4x4 vehicles, inflatable boats, tents and mobile toilets leave Windhoek and head towards Katwitwi (west of Rundu). The Challenge takes place over 7 days and ends in Begani on 17 May which means that the boats and vehicles would have travelled about 450kms on the Okavango River.

This is a gruelling Challenge, not for the fainthearted, of inflatable boating coupled with tough 4x4 terrain for the support vehicles to negotiate, with nothing more than GPS coordinates for guidance. Evenings will be spent in luxury tented camp areas (including flushable toilets and hot water showers) where more challenges and fun await the participants. Amongst others, thewinwingroup Namibia, as the official public relations partner, will be responsible for the communication centre, offering on-site communication to the local and international media, corporates and other organisations involved.

The OEWONA River Challenge will host 10 Namibian teams and 10 South African invitational teams. Being held for the first time in Namibia, the response from the Namibian business community and the interest from both local and international media has been phenomenal. There are still opportunities for organisations to get involved either through a sponsorship or by buying a boat for 2 or 4 people. There are also opportunities for individuals who do not necessarily want to buy a boat but want to join the group for the 4x4 adventure to participate. The individual costs are all inclusive and include the luxury tented accommodation, travel, petrol, food, drinks, entertainment and much more.

OEWONA was officially launched by Madam Penehupifo Pohamba, the First Lady of Namibia, who is also the founding member and patron of the organisation. At the launch event the First Lady said: “Networking on such a level should be seen as another opportunity which will lead to growth in individual businesses and the economy as a whole. Oewona supports this venture, specifically, as it allows them to also focus on the current floods in the area and the plight of the needy. Oewona, as an organization, needs to be in the mindset of all potential donors and sponsors to help us achieve the dreams of an organisation which is committed to help people to help themselves.”

Speaking at a media conference in Windhoek held on 22 April 2009, Leon Smith, one of the organisers said: “We have made sure that the Challenge is run by credible and responsible people who we know are capable of arranging such an international standard event. The same organisers, who are responsible for the annual Cape-Augulus inflatable boat event are also assisting us and we are really grateful for all their commitment and inputs thus far. The event kicks off with its first leg on the water on 12 May and finishes on 15 May with a gala evening. The convoy then heads back to Windhoek on 16 May.”

Magda Smith, Marketing & Sales Manager from I Dream Africa added: “The response to our requests for donations and sponsorships shows that the Namibian business community is very keen to get involved in different projects which can show financial transparency, good leadership and provide community self-sustainability. OEWONA does just this and it is a pleasure to be involved with the organisation and our First Lady.”

Beverly Jandrell-Uren, Director from thewinwingroup concluded: “By partnering with the group of event partners for this worthy cause, thewinwingroup shows our commitment to making a difference in Namibia by doing things differently. Our highly skilled and well known public relations department will be running the on-site communication centre for the media, participants and sponsors to have access to the internet and other information. We are every excited about being invited to join the Challenge and know that this is only the beginning of bigger things to come.”

The event partners on the project are the DMH group, Events Unlimited, I Dream Africa, Kia Motors, Prosperity Insurance, Turn Strategic Marketing, Rat Race Media, Shell Namibia, thewinwingroup Namibia and Yamaha.

Please go to www.namibiariverchallenge.com for more information or contact any of the following organisers if you would like to become part of this exciting and worthy event: Leon Smith 081 127 9427 leons@mweb.com.na Magda Smith 081 124 4663 mags@namibnet.com Beverly Jandrell-Uren 08 555 10374 bjandrell@winwinnamibia.com

/ends