By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Namibia’s Chamber of Mines has cautioned the government against closing its doors to potential investors in the uranium sector. The government last year stopped issuing uranium prospecting licences to regulate the activities because of an upsurge of demand in the global market for the resource, considering that uranium was not only used for electricity generation but also for destructive purposes. The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), in cooperation with the Chamber, holds mining exhibitions geared towards attracting foreign direct investments to the county. But the Chamber said the moratorium was counter-productive to joint efforts between the two. “The Chamber of Mines appreciates the MME’s concerns regarding the strategic nature of uranium but, nevertheless, we feel that the concerns expressed by the ministry regarding the credibility of potential investors in the uranium sector can be easily verified prior to the granting of a licence,” said the Chamber’s President, Mark Dawe, on Friday during the Chamber’s annual general meeting and dinner. Dawe said instead of closing its doors, the government should welcome any serious investor with open arms. He said other African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania gave investors in the primary industry red carpet treatment. “The first-world economy was built on the primary sector,” he said. Due to the turnaround in the prices of uranium since 2006 Africa, including Namibia, has seen the opening of new mines. Prices of the commodity have risen from US$10 per pound to US$100 per pound, to date. In Namibia, uranium contributes 7.5 percent of the global uranium production and, with the opening of new mines in future, Dawe said Namibia is likely to produce 15 percent of the world’s uranium. To date, 15 prospecting licences for nuclear fuels have been issued, with 65 applications for uranium exploration licences awaiting approval as of October 2006. In his address at the dinner, MME Minister, Erkki Nghimtina, said the government would make a decision regarding uranium exploration after consultations. He said while the government has decided to look at viable propositions to develop nuclear power for its energy needs, there were also threats of nuclear power development around the world, which has made the government to re-look at the entire uranium industry. “You need not be scared about the temporary moratorium, as it is only meant to allow for the review of the current processes and set a stage to develop a policy framework in which both industry and government can operate,” Nghimtina said. He added that although exploration to gather the geological extent of uranium mineralization is imports, the country did not need 10 operating uranium mines in the country. Namibia’s uranium exploration projects include Trekopje owned by Uramin Inc, Valencia owned by Forsys Metal Corp, Husab owned by Kalahari Metals, and Tubas which is owned by Deep Yellow through Reptile Investments Four. The country now has two uranium-producing mines, namely: RÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶ssing and the newly commissioned Langer Heinrich, whose production started in December 2006. RÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¶ssing produced 3ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 617 tonnes of uranium oxide in 2006 and intends to increase its production to its namesake capacity of 4ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 tonnes per annum, with further expansion that is planned. The life of the mine has been extended to 2012. Although Langer Heirich, whose lifespan extends to 2021, made its first shipment in March, no production was declared for 2006.