21 Nov (NucNet): Work has begun on construction of Swakop Uranium’s Husab Project near Swakopmund in Namibia, following the signing in Beijing of the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract.
Swakop Uranium said the contract was awarded to the Husab Project Joint Venture, comprising the international engineering and project management company AMEC, and Tenova Bateman. AMEC will act as lead on all Husab Project Joint Venture activities and will hold specific responsibility for project management and engineering, with responsibilities for procurement and construction management to be shared with the joint venture partner.
Swakop Uranium is a wholly-owned Namibian subsidiary of Taurus Minerals Limited, an entity owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company Uranium Resources Company Limited and the China-Africa Development Fund.
The mine will take approximately 34 months to build, with production expected in the third quarter of 2015, Swakop Uranium said.
The Husab ore body is the highest-grade, granite-hosted uranium deposit in Namibia, and the third largest uranium-only deposit in the world. Swakop Uranium is developing and constructing the mine, which has the potential to produce 15 million pounds per annum of uranium oxide (U3O8) per annum. This is more than the total current uranium production of Namibia and will elevate the country past Australia, Canada and Niger to the second rung on the world ladder of uranium producers, Swakop Uranium said.
Husab is being developed as a low-risk, conventional, large-scale load-and-haul open pit mine, feeding ore to a conventional agitated acid leach process plant. According to Swakp Uranium, the mine has a potential life of more than 20 years, with uranium reserves of at least 280 million tonnes.
