Rössing launched its radio outreach programme for high school learners, called “The Rössing story”, with an informative and interactive information session at the Kolin Foundation Senior Secondary School in Arandis on Wednesday, 7 September 2011.

Rössing Uranium's Corporate Communication Advisor Botha Ellis and Kolin Foundation Secondary School Principal Richard Geiseb at the launch of the new Rössing radio outreach programme for high school learners.	Some of the Kolin Foundation Secondary School learners at Arandis received goodies from Rössing after the radio outreach programme launch.

During the launch, more than a hundred Grade 11 and Grade 12 learners at Kolin Foundation packed the school's main hall to engage with specialists from the mine on a variety of topics stretching from what the company mines and how Rössing goes about its mining activities, to health, safety and environmental management practises employed by the mine as well as the use of uranium for electricity.

Starting the proceedings, Rössing Uranium's acting superintendent for External Relations, Paulina Mbango, said: “Public understanding of uranium and nuclear power in many countries, including our own, remains limited and readily susceptible to misunderstanding. So, as part of the group of custodians of nuclear power, this outreach project aims to respond to the need to inform our stakeholders around uranium mining and uranium use.”

With the radio version of the project, the mine goes one step further by taking “The Rössing story” to the air waves with the aim of reaching a larger audience. Mbango continued saying that “We are extremely excited about taking “The Rössing story” to a broader audience. Now we will not only be talking to learners in class rooms, but will be talking to the whole community, to families, in the comfort of their living rooms.”

The mine's Corporate Communication section collaborated with the community radio initiative “Ocean Wave Radio” and transcribed the original PowerPoint presentation into a series of 12 radio episodes that will be aired, twice a week, on the Swakopmund based radio station “West Coast FM 107.7 (also online at www.westcoastfmnamibia.com).

The shows will deal with a different topic during each episode from 7 September to 23 November. The topics and themes will be discussed by a fictional character called “Mr Ross Rio-Tinto” and Ross will take listeners on an educational bus trip full of exploration to the mine in each episode. High school learners can also test their knowledge on Rössing and uranium mining in general by taking part in an exciting competition that will be running with the show.

Tune in to West Coast FM 107.7 every Wednesday at 7pm and Saturday at 10am to listen to “The Rössing Story” and win your share of great prizes.

Issued by Corporate Communication and External Affairs