Fuel cycle roundup #4

Friday, 23 November 2012

Husab project ready to go

Swakop Uranium has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management contract for developing the Husab Project uranium mine in Namibia to a joint venture between AMEC and Tenova Bateman. Amec will lead on all activities and assume responsibility for project management and engineering. Tenova will take responsibility for some procurement and construction management.

With construction approval effective from 18 October, the Husab Project Joint Venture is now set to start. It is expected to take 34 months to construct the mine, with uranium production slated to begin sometime in the third quarter of 2015. The operation will be an open pit mine with an acid leach process plant on site. Swakop describes the Husab ore-body as being the third largest uranium-only deopsit in the world. With measured and indicated reserves of about 140,000 tonnes U, it is expected to operate for at least 20 years with an output of approximately 7000 tonnes U3O8 per annum.

Peninsula receives mining permit for Lance

Peninsula's wholly-owned subsidiary Strata has received a Permit to Mine for its Ross production unit. This is the second of three licences required before full mining activities at the operation, situated in Wyoming USA, can commence. The first - a Deep Disposal Well licence - was granted in April 2011, while a draft Combined Source and Byproduct Material Licence was issued to the company in early November 2012. The company did not say when it expected to receive the remaining licence but noted that receiving the Permit to Mine freed up resources to focus on the application. Strata now expects to begin allowable construction work such as disposal wells, monitoring wells and civil works "within the coming weeks."

Mkuju River receives EIA

According to Tanzanian newspaper The Guardian, Mantra Resources Tanzania has received an environmental impact certificate for the Mkuju River uranium project. This should progess the company's application for a mining licence. The Mkuju River project is to be operated by Uranium One which owns 13.9% of Mantra Resources. Russian mining company ARMZ, owns the remaining stake and is also the majority shareholder in Uranium One. Upon commencement, construction of facilities is expected to take two years.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News