Rossing Uranium Mine Expansion, Namibia

The proposed project will involve ramping up output at the Rössing uranium mine, situated near Swakopmund in Namibia, from 4 000 t/y of uranium oxide to 4 5 00 t/y. The new ore reserves will augment existing ones to provide a production level of a targeted 5 500 t of uranium oxide. The supports that underpin the increase are the introduction of the proposed heap-leaching of material that cannot be processed by the 4 500t capacity tank leach plant, as well as the potential to obtain more ore form the SK 4 are and the south side of the current openpit. Rössing Uranium is now considering mining the Z20 ore body located south of the Khan River, where Rössing Uranium’s mining license area ML28 and the Namib Naukluft Park overlap. In order to access the Z20 ore body, an infrastructure corridor would need to be established linking the Z20 site to the existing Rössing Uranium Mine. This infrastructure corridor would facilitate the transport of crushed ore generated at the Z20 site to the existing Rössing Uranium facilities. The Z20 ore deposit is a substantial find of the recent exploration activities Rössing has conducted in its ML28 Mining Licence Area reaching to the South across the Khan River. The Z20 resource is similar in size to that of Husab’s Zone 1 or 2 and will constitute a significant addition to the economic value of Rössing Uranium’s ore inventory.