Information Papers

Uranium in Namibia

(September 2008)

Uranium was discovered in the Namib Desert in 1928, but was not until intensive exploration got under way in the late 1950s that much interest was shown in Rossing. Rio Tinto discovered numerous uranium occurrences and in 1966 took the rights over the low-grade Rossing deposit, 65 km inland from Swakopmund.

Rossing Uranium Ltd was formed in 1970 (now 68.6% Rio Tinto, 15% Iran, 10% Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, 3% Namibian government). The company has mined the deposit from 1976 as a large-scale open pit in very hard rock. Rossing has nominal capacity of 4000 tU/yr and to the end of 2004 had supplied 79,1999 tU. In 2005 it produced 3147 tU (2006: 3067 tU, 2007: 2582 tU), making it then the fourth largest uranium mine in the world.

Rossing uranium resources

End 2005 Reserves Resources
 
stockpiled
proven
probable
measured
indicated
inferred
Contained:
1,033 t U
3,222 tU
34,700 tU
4,410 tU
66,678 tU
47,471 tU
Ore grade:
0.018% U
0.032% U
0.028% U
0.042% U
0.025% U
0.25% U

 

Rossing's uranium is sold to power utilities in Central Europe, North America and South-East Asia including China.

After three years evaluation it was decided in December 2005 to invest US$ 112 million to further develop the Rossing mine, extend its life to 2016 and increase the output to 3400 tU/yr. In 2007 Rio Tinto proposed a further expansion to 3800 tU/yr and extending mine life. The first phase extends mining in 2008 to a new small orebody, introduces radiometric ore sorting to beneficiate material from stockpiled coarse ore, and commissions a new sulfur-burning acid plant. Phase 2 will be defined in 2008 and could include heap leaching of low-grade ore and development of other small satellite orebodies with different mineralisation and hence needing a new treatment plant for them.

2007 was a year of consolidation, preparing for increased production.  Unit costs therefore rose to US$ 38 per pound ($99/kgU) from $22 ($57/kgU) in 2006.  In 2008 production in the first six months was 1596.5 tonnes U.

Two other significant deposits found in early exploration were Trekkopje, a calcrete deposit 80km NE of Swakopmund and near Rossing, and Langer Heinrich, a calcrete deposit discovered in 1973 by Gencor, 80 km inland from Walvis Bay and 50 km southeast of Rossing.

  deposit type Known Resources
   
Measured & indicated
Inferred
Langer Heinrich
   palaeochannel 32,800 tU in 0.06% ore 41,600 tU in 0.06% ore
Trekkopje
   palaeochannel 45,500 tU in 0.011% ore 3000 tU in 0.01% ore
 Valencia  hard rock 16,000 tU in 0.011% ore 8000 tU in 0.010% ore
 Goanikontes  hard rock 26,000 tU in 0.021% ore 15,000 tU in 0.0197% ore
 Marenica   palaeochannel   13,000 tU

 

Langer Heinrich is 50 km southeast of Rossing, in the Namib Park.  It was acquired by Acclaim Uranium Ltd (now Aztec Resources Ltd) in 1999 and then bought by Paladin Resources Ltd (now Paladin Energy) in 2002. The open pit mine commenced operation late in 2006 with 1000 tU/yr capacity.  The ore occurs over 15 km in a palaeochannel system.  Some vanadium is present in the carnotite mineral.  There is a conventional hard rock mill with an alkaline leaching circuit.
Production to the end of 2007 was 297 tU and that for the first six months of 2008 was 408 tU and steadily improving.  Stage 2 development is due to boost production to 1430 tU/yr from late 2008 and Stage 3 is planned to take production to 2300 tU/yr from 2010.

Trekkopje is about 80 km northeast of Swakopmund, and 35 km north of Rossing.  In 2007 UraMin Inc announced an upgrade of uranium resources at this project, comprising two adjacent palaeochannel deposits (Klein Trekkopje being the main one) over an area about 16 km by 1 to 3 km.   The company was then taken over by Areva.  A $30 million trial mine was planned for late 2007 and commercial production was expected to begin a year later at 1350 tonnes U3O8 (1150 tU) per year. Likely production start in July 2008 and first export in late 2009 was subsequently reported, with mine cost to be US$ 920 million and production rate 3300 tU/yr.

The US$ 750 million project will have a shallow open-pit mine and a sodium carbonate/ bicarbonate heap leach process - the first one in the world.  80 percent of the ore is less than 15 metres deep.  Water is to be supplied from a coastal desalination plant with about 55,000 m3/day output and requiring 16 MWe from the grid. 

A substantial conversion of 'inferred' resources to reserves occurred as a result of drilling in 2006 and 2007, taking the Measured and Indicated resource category to 42,000 tU in the main deposit.  Areva quoted 45,600 tU resources in 2008.  Over 9000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide by-product is envisaged.  A mining licence was granted in June 2008 and production is expected to commence at the end of 2009, ramping up to 3500 tU/yr in 2011.

Valencia: In July 2007 Forsys Metals Corp. of Toronto announced measured and indicated resources of 18,800 t U3O8 (16,000 tU) for its Valencia uranium project along strike from Rossing and near Langer Heinrich. Inferred resources are 8000 tU and geology is similar to Rossing.  Environmental approval for an open pit mine was granted in June 2008 and a mining licence was granted in August 2008 to Valencia Uranium P/L (a wholly owned subsidiary of Forsys), allowing production to begin in 2010.

Goanikontes: In August 2008 Bannerman Resources announced indicated resources of 26,000 tU and inferred resources of 15,000 tU (NI 43-101 compliant) 30 km southwest of Rossing and 40 km east of Swakopmund.  The company is proceeding with a definitive feasibility study for mining from 2011.  The alasskite ore is very similar to that at Rossing.

Marenica: In July 2008 West Australian Metals announced a 13,000 tU inferred resource (JORC-compliant) in a palaeochannel deposit 40 km north of Trekkopje.

In 2007 Xemplar Energy Corp of Canada announced a new uranium province in the Warmbad area along the Orange River in the south of the country. It is drilling two large mineralized zones similar to Rossing's ore among 14 which outcrop in an area of 40 x 28 km. Resource figures are expected to be released in 2008.

Namibia's identified uranium resources are about 5% of the world's known total. Those recoverable at up to $130/kg are about 275,000 tonnes U. The Reasonably Assured Resources portion of this is 176,000 tU, accessible by open pit mining.

Nuclear power 

Namibia's electricity supply of some 3 billion kWh per year is half supplied by South Africa, which faces serious supply constraints itself. A coal-fired plant is planned for Walvis Bay.

The government has committed to a policy position of supplying its own electricity from nuclear power by about 2018. The country faces severe challenges in power supply.

Non-proliferation

Namibia is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has had a comprehensive safeguards agreement in force since 1998 and in 2000 signed the Additional Protocol.

Sources:
OECD NEA & IAEA, 2006, Uranium 2005: Resources, Production and Demand
Paladin Resources
UraMin