Swakop uranium

COMPANY PROFILE

2015

Swakop Uranium

www.swakopuranium.com | +264 (0) 64 410 9000

company profile

Elevating Namibian mining Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia, Swakop Uranium operates as a subsidiary of CGNPC Uranium Resources Co. Ltd, and focuses on the exploration and development of the Husab uranium mine, located in the country’s western-central Erongo region.

Editorial: Tim Hands

The Husab Uranium Project comprises a uranium mine currently under development near the town of Swakopmund, located around 60 kilometres from Walvis Bay. A 2.5 billion dollar project, it has been in development since the signing in Beijing of an EPCM contract in November of 2012, following the granting of a license to Swakop Uranium in late December 2011 by the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy. Studies show that the mine reserves contain the highest grade, granite hosted uranium deposit in the whole of Namibia, with the potential here for 15 million pounds - 6800 tonnes - of uranium oxide per annum.

Once placed into production, this figure will make it the second-largest uranium mine in the world, and elevate Namibia’s total production

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capacity, “past Niger, Australia and Canada to the second rung on the world ladder of uranium producers,” states Swakop Uranium’s CEO, Zheng Keping.

The Husab mine The Husab mine is estimated to contain approximately 280 million tonnes of uranium ore, a quantity that will take close to 20 years to mine. Around 4,000 construction jobs are expected to result from this colossal project, of which 1,200 will remain permanent, while the extracted uranium is eventually expected to contribute 5% of the country’s gross domestic product. According to Percy McCallum, Swakop Uranium’s Director Human Resources, the thinking behind such a concerted recruitment drive is to

Swakop Uranium

ensure operational readiness, through focussing on building the strength of the team. “Our aim is to attract and retain skilled individuals and to coach and mentor emerging talent, so that the company can ensure it has a world-class pool of Namibian employees,” he explained.

Until April 2012, Swakop Uranium was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian company Extract Resources, until Taurus Minerals Limited of Hong Kong – itself a subsidiary of CGNPC - became the new owners, following a successful takeover of Extract Resources. CGNPC’s investment in Swakop Uranium marked not only the biggest in Namibia since the country’s independence, but also, significantly, by far the single biggest investment by China in Africa to date.

While the Erongo region contains many mines

similar to Husab, with its high grade of uranium hosted in a type of granites called alaskites, it is set apart by its being the largest and highest grade uranium-only deposit in Namibia. The mineralisation stretches along approximately 8km, and when fully operational this project is anticipated to produce some 7000t of uranium each year, placing it behind only the MacArthur River mine in Canada in production terms.

Husab is to be developed as an open-pit mining operation using a conventional truck and shovel method, and will require loading and hauling equipment on a huge scale for its mining to be carried out. As well as the drill rigs which will be used to create the pits for mining, excavation will be carried out using diesel and electric shovels, alongside a vast range of other equipment

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company profile to include excavators, rock breakers and dozers.

Once extracted from the mine, the ore will then be fed to the processing plant, which will produce the high grade uranium, via a conventional acid leach plant designed for a capacity of 15mlbs per year. A complex process, this involves leaching the uranium using sulphuric acid, which should enable approximately 88% of the uranium to be recovered.

A mine residue facility is also to be built at the site, in which the waste rock and tailings will be disposed of, while a programme to optimise and extend the mining resources has already been set in motion, geared toward increasing the mine’s lifespan and improving the processes taking place at Husab.

Heavy Haulage Playing a significant role in achieving these goals at the mine will be the massive Komatsu haul trucks, assembly of which began in August 2013. These trucks each have a payload of 327 tonnes, are in fact delivered to the site in the form of a kit at, and while 26 of these trucks will be received, at a rate

of two per month, during the project phase, in total 39 of them will be operating on the mine when production begins at its nameplate capacity of 15 million pounds of uranium oxide per annum.

As might be expected, merely transporting the first two dump bodies along the 2,250 kilometres from Johannesburg to the site was a major logistical operation. These bodies measure 14.6 metres long, 10.7 metres wide and 5.4 metres high and are the last part of the truck to be fitted, necessitating two cranes to lift them. Komatsu’s Gerhard Klopper said of the undertaking: “Every step of the journey had to be carefully measured and investigated before the 50-tonne load could be granted permission to travel. Even then, strict conditions were applied and the vehicles needed to be accompanied by at least two escorts from the transportation company Transcor, as well as two South African road authorities.”

Construction of the Husab mine is reported to be progressing extremely well, with the majority of the main contracts having been awarded and both bulk earthworks and construction of the

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Mining Practice Leader (AFRICA) Debbie.Geraghty@Marsh.com +27 (11) 060 7759; or Windhoek + 264 61 270 4000 Swakopmund +264 64 40 5053 Walvis Bay + 264 64 20 6199

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Swakop Uranium

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company profile

permanent road and bridge to the mine site well under way. Namibia’s state energy supply company, Nampower, has approved a guaranteed power supply of 50 MW for the mine, while the first water at the site was delivered near two years ago via a temporary pipeline from the Rössing reservoir, feeding into a newly-built pond on the Husab mine. Permanent water will be supplied either by a newly built desalination plant near Swakopmund, or from the existing large-scale plant built by Areva, constructed to supply all the water to its own Trekkopje mine.

This was the first seawater desalination plant to be constructed in southern Africa, located 30 km north of Swakopmund at Wlotzkasbaken, a site about 40 km further into the desert, with the plant eliminating the need to pump water from the aquifers and thus helping significantly to preserve the country’s groundwater reserves.

Furthering the significant progress underway at the mine, the end of 2014 brought an important development in Swakop’s work, seeing the company sign an agreement with Metal and Allied Workers Union of Namibia, with the purpose of ensuring the health and

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safety of employees and contract workers. This also comprised plans to intensify safety efforts and minimise the negative impact mining activities have on the environment, outlining the principles and procedures which will govern the relationship between Swakop Uranium, the contractors, MANWU and its members in relation to health, safety and environment at the mine site.

Zh e n g Ke pi n g , c h i e f e x e c ut i v e offi c e r of Sw a k op U ra n i um , w a s k e e n t o c l a ri fy h ow t h e ag re e m e n t w i l l e n s ure t h a t a l l s t a k e h ol de rs are c om m i t t e d t o obs e rv i n g ri s k a s s e s s m e n t , sta n da rd ope ra t i n g proc e dure s a n d re l e v a n t le g i s l a t i on t o e n s ure t h a t a l l pot e n t i a l inc i de n t s , a re ful l y pre v e n t e d, a n d re port e d whe n t h e y oc c ur: “ We a l l h a v e a m ut ua l int e re s t i n t h e oc c upa t i on a l s a fe t y a n d h e a l t h of e m pl oye e s a n d t h e prot e c t i on of t h e e nv i ron m e n t a n d t h us un de rt a k e t o c oope ra t e in a n e ffort t o e l i m i n a t e oc c upa t i on a l H S E ha z a rds a n d c on duc t a l l ope ra t i on s w i t h due c on s i de ra t i on for t h e prot e c t i on of t h e e nv i ron m e n t . A l l c om pa n i e s c on t ra c t e d by Sw a k op U ra n i um s h a l l c om pl y w i t h pol i c i e s

Swakop Uranium

a n d p ro ced u res an d applicable le g islation and p r omo te co mmitment and te amwork to e nsure z e r o harm to w o rke rs and prote ction of the e n v i ro n men t.”

O peratin g to s u ch a strict and tig htly p l a n ned s ch ed u le as that adopte d by Swakop m e a ns that the p lant is sche dule d to be f u l l y an d s u s tainab ly ope rational in 2 0 1 6 . A c e r e mo n y in May la st ye ar, atte nde d by v arious d i g n itaries in clu d ing Namibian pre side nt H i f i k ep u ny e Po hamba, China’s ambassador t o Namib ia Xin Shun Kang , and CGN c h a i rman H o Yu , marke d the official start of m i n ing o p eratio ns at the Husab proje ct. To c om m emo rate s u ch a sig nificant landmark, the f i r s t h eavy -d u ty mining e quipme nt at Husab w a s started u p , an d acte d as a pre cursor to t h e e xtractio n o f the me asure d and indicate d u r a n iu m res erves o f about 1 4 0 ,0 0 0 tonne s. The m i n e its elf w ill co mprise two pits: the Z one 1 p i t will b e s o me 3k m long , 1 km wide and 4 1 2 m d e e p , w hile th e Zo ne 2 pit will be 2 km in l e n gth , 1. 3 km w id e and 3 7 7 m de e p.

With the min e d ue to start uranium p r od u ctio n early in 2 0 1 6 , commissioning of

t h e s i t e ’s proc e s s i n g pl a n t i s e x pe c t e d t o t a k e pl a c e l a t e r t h i s ye a r, w h i l e t h e m i n e re c e n t l y a l s o a c qui re d t h e bi g g e s t c rus h i n g pl a n t i n S out h e rn A fri c a . H us a b e x pe c t s t o m ov e 1 5 0 m i l l i on t on n e s of roc k pe r a n n um a n d 1 5 m i l l i on t on n e s of proc e s s e d ore a n n ua l l y, a s D e on G a rbe rs , s e n i or v i c e -pre s i de n t of ope ra t i on s , a dde d, “ T h e m i n e ’s l i fe -s pa n i s 2 0 ye a rs pl us . N e w de pos i t s h a v e a l re a dy be e n di s c ov e re d a s w e l l w h i c h w i l l e x pa n d t h e l i fe s pa n of t h e m i n e furt h e r.”

T h i s ye a r a l on e , S w a k op U ra n i um w i l l s pe n d m ore t h a n N $ 1 ,5 m i l l i on on proje c t s l i n k e d t o s oc i a l re s pon s i bi l i t y, w i t h t h e a i m of be n e fi t t i n g pre v i ous l y di s a dv a n t a g e d c om m un i t i e s , a l on g s i de w h i c h s e v e ra l h un dre d N a m i bi a n a rt i s a n s a n d ope ra t ors a re c urre n t l y re c e i v i n g t h e re l e v a n t t ra i n i n g t o a l l ow t h e m t o joi n H us a b m i n e ’s pe rm a n e n t s t a ff a s m i n i n g proc e s s i n g ope ra t ors . H us a b m i n e h a s re c e n t l y i n t roduc e d a H i g h Pe rform a n c e Cul t ure prog ra m m e for a l l i t s e m pl oye e s , i n orde r t o s t re n g t h e n t h e i r w ork pe rform a n c e a n d i n t roduc e s t a n da rds t o c om pe t e w i t h t h e v e ry be s t i n t h e w orl d

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