NOVEMBER 2015www.endeavourmagazine.com

INSPIRED BY YOUR SUCCESS

Swakop UraniumBeing The Best In The Business

Swakop Uranium was established in 2006 to explore, evaluate, develop and produce uranium oxide (U3O8) as a source of fuel conversion for low-cost, environmentally friendly, nuclear power. The Husab Project, which was officially kicked off on 18th April 2013, has been their main vehicle for their future success. We spoke with Corporate Director, Grant Marais, about it.

WRITTEN BY DAEMON SANDS

BEING THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS WITH THE

BEST NAME

www.littlegatepublishing.com

SWAKOP URANIUMWWW.SWAKOPURANIUM.COM

00264 64 410 9000

SWAKOP URANIUM

“The 8 km uranium mineralisation on the Swakop Uranium Exclusive Prospecting Licence (EPL) area has been confirmed as the highest-grade, granite-hosted

uranium deposit in Namibia and one of the world’s most significant discoveries in decades,” Grant tells us, “The mine has a potential life of more than 20 years, with uranium reserves of at least 280 million tonnes. There are furthermore opportunities to increase the reserve base by adding the defined resources at Zones 3 to 5 and through building on promising exploration results.”

Husab mine is located near the town of Swakopmund in the Erongo region in western-central Namibia and once in full production, Husab, which has the potential to produce 15 million pounds (6 800 tonnes) of uranium oxide per annum, will be the second-largest uranium mine in the world. This is a mammoth discovery as the world’s largest uranium mine, McArthur River in Canada, can produce up to 18 million pounds per annum.

EMPLOYEES“Given the potential of the Husab site,” Grant explains, “Swakop

Uranium is poised to become a substantial contributor to the Namibian economy and its local communities.”

No argument there. With a spot price of US$ 65/lb, a production rate of 15.5 million pounds per annum and an exchange rate of N$10 to the US dollar, Swakop Uranium will have an annual turnover of US$1-billion. Furthermore, it will contribute 5% to the Namibian Gross Domestic Product, 20% to the country’s merchandise exports and generate up to N$1 700-million per year in Government revenue.

“The project will also create more than 6000 temporary jobs during construction and about 1800 permanent operational job opportunities,” Grant adds, “This will increase the number of people employed in the mining sector by approximately 17 percent,”

SWAKOPAccording to a socio-economic study done on the Husab

Project, 8 to ten spin-off jobs will be created per permanent

employee, which means that through the affiliated industries, including logistics, packaging, equipment manufacturing, hardware, software, recruitment and health and safety to name but a few, up to 16,000 permanent jobs will be created by and as a result of the Husab Project.

Even more impressively, Swakop Uranium has committed itself to social and empowerment aspects such as local procurement where possible, local recruitment, involvement in social responsibility programmes, training, education and sound environmental management practices.

The Swakop Uranium Foundation manifests its commitment to supporting the Erongo region and Namibia. The Foundation has, among others, provided funding to Ellie’s Vegetable and Flower Garden, based in the town of Arandis near the Husab mine and pledged support towards the construction of a girls’ dormitory at the Tears of Hope orphanage in Swakopmund.

“Swakop Uranium also helped to acquire land from the Swakopmund Municipality for a new school that will open its doors in Swakopmund in 2015,” Grant goes on to tell us, “Close to 500 hungry minds, waiting to absorb new knowledge, will now have a chance to benefit from some of the best education in the area.”

While the major contracts on the project will be with international companies, Swakop Uranium remains committed to encouraging spending with Namibian companies through a variety of means. In parallel with the construction of the Husab mine, the Swakop Uranium management team in Namibia have pledged to assemble and train the operational team to ensure that the company is ready to operate the mine once construction is completed and the mine is commissioned.

THE OWNERSGrant explains that until April 2012, Swakop Uranium was a

100% subsidiary of Extract Resources, an Australian company listed on the Australian, Canadian and Namibian stock exchanges. During April 2012, Taurus Minerals Limited of Hong Kong became the new owners following a successful takeover of Extract Resource who have delisted since then.

SWAKOP URANIUM

There is a lot of interest surrounding the Husab Project, which is by far the largest venture Swakop Uranium has undertaken.

SWAKOP URANIUM

Taurus, an entity owned by China General Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) Uranium Resources Co. Ltd. and the China-Africa Development Fund, has been pursuing Swakop Uranium’s Husab orebody since 2011, first by successfully launching a takeover bid for Extract’s majority shareholder, Kalahari Minerals plc, which owned 43% of Extract. This was followed by a US$2,2-billion takeover offer for Extract, which the Extract independent directors recommended their shareholders to accept.

CGNPC’s investment in Swakop Uranium not only marked the biggest in Namibia since the country’s independence, but also by far the single biggest investment by China in Africa. More than US$100-million (N$1-billion) was spent to get the project to the construction phase and a further US$2-billion (N$20-billion) will be required to bring the Husab Project to fruition.

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 (US$226-million). At the signing ceremony, Mr Zheng Keping, CEO of Swakop Uranium, said the Husab Project has been brought to this stage of development in record time by a dedicated and professional management team, engineers and staff.

“We are proud to confirm that more than N$1-billion has already been spent to get the project to its current state. Our budgets estimate a further N$20-billion will be required to bring the project to fruition,” he said.

HUSAB PROJECT“The geological reasoning behind The Husab Project,” Grant

explains, “Is that similar rock formations to those hosting the Rössing Mine to the north were interpreted to be concealed beneath the desert plain in the northern part of Swakop Uranium’s EPL area.”

The discovery holes were drilled in late 2007; the chemical assay results for the three discovery holes were returned from the laboratory in early 2008 and released to the market in February 2008.

“These results prompted, Extract Resources who were Swakop Uranium’s majority shareholders at the time, to commission a definitive feasibility study (DFS), which formally commenced in April 2009. The DFS process involved more than 20 specialist international consulting groups who spent many thousands of hours on the study. The DFS results were released to the market in April

The Husab Project Joint Venture (HPJV) is proud to be delivering the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contract for the Husab project in Namibia.

Excellence in project delivery

www.amecfw.comwww.tenova.com

SWAKOP URANIUM

2011. Extract also commissioned environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies on both the mine and the linear infrastructure, the latter of which comprised the roads to the mine, as well as the water pipeline, the power lines and the telecommunication network.”

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONSwakop Uranium operates within the Namib Naukluft National

Park and takes considerable care to preserve the fragile ecosystem that exists on the Husab site and along the infrastructure routes to site. The drought-tolerant Camelthorns (Vachellia erioloba) and Welwitschias provide potentially useful long-term records of changes in the desert climate. Although reading the growth rings of old trees (dendochronology) can give much information regarding climate and climatic trends during a time when these were not yet scientifically recorded, this is not as easy to do on the soft-stemmed Welwitschia as on the extremely hard-wooded Camelthorn.

Swakop Uranium supported a study to analyse the oldest part of the Camelthorns, the centre or heartwood, to have the material carbon-dated. Making use of Radiocarbon or carbon 14 dating of dead plant tissue is an excellent way to measure their age and therefor determine the scale and extent of the area’s

age and diversity. The Namibian MET approved the project and issued a research permit where after core samples were sent to a radiocarbon dating laboratory in the United States. Each sampled tree was carefully documented and the drilled holes filled with polyurethane foam before being sealed with silicone. The results were unexpected and very interesting; with scientific papers currently being published.

CONCLUSIONCementing its place as one of the largest resource drilling

projects globally, Swakop Uranium has completed almost 800,000 metres (or 800 km) of combined reverse circulation and diamond core drilling from April 2006 when the drilling programme started. The Husab mine is set to make Swakop Uranium one of the household names in the industry and the commissioning activities are planned to start towards the end of 2015.

www.endeavourmagazine.com

1.2 million businesses like yours are seeing this. Getting your own corporate brochure couldn’t be

easier. Get in touch below for details.

www.littlegatepublishing.com alexsmith@littlegatepublishing.com

+44 1603 296 100