CANE - Coalition Against Nuclear Energy South Africa

French nuclear reactor maker Areva plans to build a $750-million mine in Namibia after it gets a mining licence, and construction could start as early as next month, a senior official said on Friday.

The Managing Director of the company’s Namibian unit, Ian McPherson, told a news conference the investment would make Trekkopje the third largest uranium mine in Namibia, placing it among the top ten uranium mines in the world.

“Mining will start at the end of 2009 and the shallow areas cover a large area. We expect to process 100 000 tonnes of ore per day and to extract about 6 to 8 million pounds of uranium per annum,” McPherson said on Wednesday.

Areva is currently the top marketer of uranium fuel and third-largest producer of yellow cake (uranium oxide) worldwide, the company said.

Trekkopje will have a lifespan of 10-12 years, with 35 per cent of its yellow cake earmarked for the Chinese market, McPherson said.

About $40 million would pay for a desalination plant on the Atlantic Coast, already under construction, he said.

Local analyst Heike Smith of IJG Securities said water constraints in the arid Namib desert presented the single biggest technical hurdle, where local water utility expected 12 new uranium mines to be constructed by 2015.

Areva bought the rights to Trekkopje, situated close to the 30-year-old Rossing Uranium Mine, from Canadian junior UraMin last year amid a rush for uranium properties, which saw the government impose a moratorium on new licences to clamp down on speculation.

The Areva-UraMin deal was recently criticised by Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula for not clearing the sale with the Namibian government first, as local mining legislation demanded.

The Namibian government intended to amend the local mining act soon to avoid similar situations, Angula was quoted as saying in local media last week.