The Husab Mine, also known as the Husab Uranium Project, is a

uranium mine Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

near the town of

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...

in the

Erongo Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as w ...

region of western-central

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The mine is located approximately from

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...

. The Husab Mine is expected to be the second largest uranium mine in the world after the

McArthur River uranium mine The McArthur River Uranium Mine, in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, is the world's largest high-grade uranium deposit. The McArthur River deposit was discovered in 1988. The property is located as the crow flies north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ...

in northern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the largest open-pit mine on the African continent. Mine construction started in 2014. The Husab Mine started production towards the end of 2016 after completion of the

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

leaching Leaching is the loss or extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid (usually, but not always a solvent). and may refer to: * Leaching (agriculture), the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil; or applying a small amou ...

plant. On 1 December 2011, the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy granted license to Swakop Uranium to develop the mine. The Husab Mine uranium is granite hosted. The mine has the potential to produce 15 million pounds (6800 tonnes) of uranium oxide per annum. The Husab mine contains approximately 280 million tonnes of uranium ore. Mining is expected to last nearly 20 years.

Geology

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

mineralisation is hosted primarily within sheeted

leucogranite Leucogranite is a light-colored, granitic, igneous rock containing almost no dark minerals. Alaskite is a synonym.Damara Orogeny The Damara orogeny was part of the Pan-African orogeny. The Damara orogeny occurred late in the creation of Gondwana, at the intersection of the Congo and the Kalahari cratons.; ; ; ; The Damara orogeny involved the suturing of the Congo– S� ...

. Formation of the uranium magmatic ore body is stratigraphically controlled with the Khan-Rossing boundary acting as a

redox Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate (chemistry), substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of Electron, electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction ...

front. The abundance of iron oxides and sulfides provide reducing conditions for uranium to be oxidised and precipitate in the form of

uraninite Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2 but because of oxidation typically contains variable proportions of U3O8. Radioactive decay of the uranium causes ...

which is the primary ore mineral that is mined at Husab.

Swakop Uranium

Swakop Uranium is an entity established in 2006 by Extract Resources, an Australian company listed on the Australian, Canadian, and Namibian stock exchanges, to explore, evaluate, develop, and produce

uranium oxide Uranium oxide is an oxide of the element uranium. The metal uranium forms several oxides: * Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (UO2, the mineral uraninite or pitchblende) * Diuranium pentoxide or uranium(V) oxide (U2O5) * Uranium trioxide o ...

. In April 2012, Swakop Uranium was acquired by Taurus Minerals Limited of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Swakop Uranium head office is located in Swakopmund. Taurus is a subsidiary of the China General Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC), Uranium Resources Co. Ltd. and the

China-Africa Development Fund The China-Africa Development Fund, more commonly known as CAD Fund, is a Chinese private equity fund solely funded by China Development Bank, a Chinese government policy bank. The aim of the fund is to stimulate investment in Africa by Chinese c ...

. Taurus owns ninety percent of Swakop Uranium. The remaining 10% is owned by Epangelo Mining Company, the Namibian state-owned mining company. CGNPC's investment in Swakop Uranium is one of the biggest investments in Namibia since its independence, and by far the single biggest investment by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in Africa. More than US$100-million (in excess of N$1-billion) was spent to reach the construction phase. A further amount of approximately US$2-billion (more than N$20-billion) was spent to bring the mine online.

Environment

Flora and fauna

Swakop Uranium has an environmental management plan committed to caring for all species of

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

and

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

found near, or within, its exploration and mining areas.

Welwitschia mirabilis ''Welwitschia'' is a monotypic gymnosperm genus, comprising solely the distinctive ''Welwitschia mirabilis'', endemic to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. ''Welwitschia'' is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and ord ...

, an ancient plant, grows in areas around the mine. Carbon dating shows that medium-sized plants can be as old as 1,000 years.

Water

The Husab Project is challenged to ensure that limited nearby water resources are not adversely affected by mining operations. The

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Nami ...

is a hyper-

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

desert with an average rainfall of between 0–50 mm at Swakopmund and

Gobabeb The Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, short: Gobabeb, is a centre for dry land training and research in Namibia. It is located in the Namib Desert, south-east of Walvis Bay. Gobabeb was founded by the Austrian entomologist Charles Koch in ...

. Long-term records from the Rössing Uranium Mine, situated 5 km north of the Husab mine, show an annual average rainfall of between 30–35 mm per annum. A hydrogeology report commissioned by Swakop Uranium concluded that the mining activities will have an effect on water levels. Although there are no farmers or settlements in the area, Swakop Uranium has drilled a number of groundwater monitoring holes around the pit, the waste rock dump, the tailings storage facility, the Welwitschia fields as well as the Khan and Swakop Rivers to measure the effect of mining activities in the area. All the boreholes have their water levels measured monthly and strategic boreholes are sampled every three months for water quality.

Air quality

In order to reduce the dust produced by mining operations to acceptable levels, the Husab mine will employ a number of dust suppression methods such as using water, extraction fans, chemicals, and other suppressants. A dust suppressant will be used on the pit, dump haul roads and other gravel site roads. The use of alternative suppression techniques has the potential to save up to 90% of the water that would otherwise have been required to achieve the same level of control.

Community

Swakop Uranium plans to engage in local procurement and recruitment where possible. The company grants bursaries for promising Namibian university students on an annual basis and has funded the construction of a new school. The company has also established a trust, called the Swakop Uranium Foundation Trust that will focus on training and education, the environment, infrastructure, health, and entrepreneurial development. The trust has donated N$100,000 to the Namibian government's Drought Relief fund.

Safety

Swakop Uranium has instituted a

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

management plan. This plan has been submitted to the National Radiation Protection Authority and is regularly audited to ensure compliance.

Ida Dome

Ida Dome is another deposit located in the western part of

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

. The Husab uranium project includes the Ida Dome 20 km south, with 9600 tU inferred resource at 0.02% (contiguous with Reptile's Ongalo). Ida Dome has estimated reserves of 53 million tonnes of ore grading 0.018%

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Swakopuranium.com
Engineering projects Uranium mines in Namibia