Name and Location
Husab uranium project, near Swakopmund, Namibia.

Client
Until April 2012, Swakop Uranium was a 100% subsidiary of Extract Resources, an Australian company listed on the Australian, Canadian and Namibian stock exchanges.  However, in April 2012, Taurus Minerals of Hong Kong became the new owners, following a successful takeover of Extract Resources. Extract Resources has subsequently been delisted. 

Taurus is an entity owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) Uranium Resources Co and the China-Africa Development Fund.  In November 2012, the Namibian state-owned mining company, Epangelo, and Swakop Uranium finalised an agreement for the subscription of a 10% stake in Swakop Uranium in a deal valued at N$1.882-billion.

Project Description
The Husab uranium project, located in the Erongo region of central-west Namibia, currently ranks as the third-largest global uranium-only deposit and is comfortably the largest uranium deposit in Namibia. It has uranium reserves of at least 280-million tons, grading at 518 parts per million for 320-million pounds of contained uranium oxide (U₃O₈).

A definitive feasibility study (DFS), prepared on the basis of a low-risk conventional openpit mine over Zones 1 and 2, has indicated that about 15-million tons of ore a year could be delivered to a conventional agitated acid-leach plant to produce about 15-million pounds of U₃O₈ equivalent a year. The current plan is to mine from two separate pits to maintain the 15-million-pound-a-year output over an estimated life-of-mine of 20 years.

Cementing its place as one of the largest resource drilling projects globally, Swakop Uranium has completed over 800 000 m (or 800 km) of combined reverse circulation and diamond core drilling from April 2006, when the drilling programme started.

Value
Capital costs for the project are estimated at R20-billion, including the initial mine fleet, process plant and supporting infrastructure.  An estimated R1-billion has been spent to get the project to its current state.

Duration
The Husab mine should take roughly three years to build, which means that commissioning activities will start in the third quarter of 2015.

Latest Developments
Basil Read has been awarded a contract to build the permanent access road for the Husab uranium project.

The contract is valued at R193-million. Production will take about 15 months and the project should be completed by February 2014.

The road will be 11 m wide and comprises one 3.5 m lane in both directions, with a 0.3 m surfaced shoulder and a 1.7 m unsurfaced shoulder.

About 2 200 t of cement and 190 000 m2 of Cape seal will be used in the construction of the 22 m road, which will stretch 11 km out of Swakopmunt to the Swakop uranium plant location.

The project also includes a 2 000 m3 concrete bridge, with eight spands of 20 m each. The 160-m-long bridge structure will be erected over the Khan river, about 14 km from the mine.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Amec (definitive feasibility study); Amec and Tenova Bateman (engineering, procurement and construction management); Gibb (bridge and road design) and Lithon Project Consultants (consulting engineer); Basil Read (permanent access road); Wilson Bailey Homes Ovcon (bulk earthworks); Komatsu (haul trucks and support fleet); Barlow World Namibia (roads shovels, hydraulic mining shovels and drills). 

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.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Swakop Uranium, tel +264 61 300 220 or email admin@swakopuranium.com.na.
Gibb, tel +27 21 469 9100 or fax +27 21 424 5571.
AMEC media contact Frank Stokes, +44 7712 008356 or email frank.stokes@amec.com.
Tenova Bateman, tel +27 11 899 9111, fax +27 11 899 3905 or email enquiries@bateman.com.
Basil Read, Jenny Smith, tel +27 11 418 6466 or Tyrone Gilbert tel +264 81 147 7000.
Lithon Project Consultants Riaan de Wit, tel +264 64 406 123.