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

Client
Until April 2012, Swakop Uranium was wholly owned by Australian company Extract Resources. In April 2012, Taurus Minerals of Hong Kong became the new owners, following a successful takeover of Extract Resources. Taurus is an entity owned by China General Nuclear Power Company and the China-Africa Development Fund. In November 2012,the Namibian State-owned mining company, Epangelo Mining Company and Swakop Uranium finalised an agreement for the subscription of a 10% stake in Swakop Uranium in a deal valued at $226-million.

Project Description
The Husab 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 tonnes, grading at 518 parts per million for 320-million pounds of contained uranium oxide (U₃O₈).

A definitive feasibility study, prepared on the basis of a low-risk conventional openpit mine over Zones 1 and 2 and delivered to the market in April 2011, has indicated that about 15-million tonnes 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 worldwide, Swakop Uranium has completed almost 800 000 m 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.

Duration
Commissioning activities will start towards the end of 2015.

Latest Developments
A ceremony was held on May 8 to mark the official start of mining operations at the Husab project.

Meanwhile, Tenova Bateman Technologies has been awarded a contract to supply 24 Bateman settlers to the Husab project.  The scope of the contract covers engineering, manufacture, delivery to site and assistance with installation and commissioning.

The order, due for completion in March 2015, was placed in March 2014 by the Husab Project Joint Venture (JV), the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. The settlers will be manufactured in South Africa. 

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Husab Project JV, comprising Amec and Tenova Bateman (engineering, procurement and construction contract); Gibb (bridge and road design); Basil Read Namibia (permanent access road); Wilson Bayley Homes-Ovcon, or WBHO (bulk earthworks for entire plant); Komatsu (haul trucks and support fleet); Barloworld Namibia (road shovels, hydraulic mining shovels and drills); Concor (contractors’ camp earthworks and infrastructure); Botes & Kennedy Manyano (temporary water pipeline and temporary access road); Conco (power transformers, Husab substations and mobile pit substations); Woker Freight (clearing, transport and storage of tyres), Lithon Project Consultants (construction supervision and engineering services for permanent access road); Access Laboratory ( site laboratory, blasting and excavations); Stefanutti Stocks (bridge piling works) and Synergistics part of the SLR group (detailed design and construction supervision of the tailings storage facility, ongoing ground and surface water monitoring, and environmental system implementation, which includes environmental site officer support).

On Budget and on Time?
Yes.

Contact Details for Project Information
Swakop Uranium director: communication and stakeholder involvement Grant Marais, tel +264 61 419600 or email Grant.Marais@swakopuranium.com.na.
Swakop Uranium project manager Rodney Voigt, tel +27 11 840 7365 or email rodney.voigt@swakopuranium.com.na.
CGNPC, fax +86 75 583 699900 or email cgn@cgnpc.com.cn.
Amec media contact, tel +44 7712 008356.
Tenova Bateman, tel +27 11 899 9111, fax +27 11 899 3905 or email enquiries@bateman.com.
Gibb, tel +27 21 469 9100 or fax +27 21 424 5571.
WBHO, tel +27 11 321 7200, fax +27 11 887 4364 or email wbho@wbho.co.za.
Komatsu, tel +27 11 923 1000 or fax +27 11 923 1303.
Concor, tel  +27 11 456 1000, fax +27 11 590 5409 or email info@engineering.co.za.
Conco, tel +27 11 805 4281, fax +27 11 805 1132 or email conco@conco.co.za.
Basil Read, Jenny Smith, tel +27 11 418 6466.
Lithon Project Consultants, tel +264 64 406 123.
Botes & Kennedy Manyano, tel +264 64 463 693, fax +264 64 406 701 or email bknamibia@botken.co.za.
Stefanutti Stocks, tel +27 11 571 4300, fax +27 11 571 4370 or email holdings@stefstocks.com.
Synergistics, tel +27 11 326 4158 or fax +27 11 326 4118.