Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy power, has nuclear mining as part of its plans in Africa. Russia is all set for mining uranium in Namibia. One of the biggest energy powers globally, Russia plans to initiate the mining in 2029. The government plans to invest $500 million in the energy project and the output may hopefully result in 3,000 tons annually.
The company said, “We plan to complete exploration work in 2026 and start mining uranium in 2029 with a mining period of more than 25 years.”
Headspring Investments, which is part of Rosatom’s global uranium mining holding Uranium One Group, will be responsible for exploration of uranium deposits in Namibia. According to Rosatom, a huge deposit was found out at the time when the last exploration took place in the southwest African country. Namibia has the world’s 7% uranium reserves.
The mining project will impact job creation in the area and will have employment upto 600 people, while boosting Namibia’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 1-2%, according to Rosatom.
As part of the project, the company is expected to start pilot mining and uranium ore processing in Tanzania in 2023-2025. Rosatam said, “In Tanzania, Rosatom is working on the Mkuju River project with the Nyota deposit, which is one of the largest in the world with a resource reserve of 152 million tons of ore.”
In the pilot process, the Russian company states that it will take out 5 tons of uranium concentrate powder known as yellowcake, the capacity of which would be 3,000 tons per year. Last year, Rosatom mined almost 7,000 tons of uranium. Out of the 7,000 tonns Uranium One Group extracted 4,500.
