ARANDIS – Intermittent sulphur outbreaks in the Atlantic ocean have forced Rössing Uranium Limited to look at alternative measures to ensure operations at the mine continue uninterrupted.
The oldest uranium mine in Namibia invested in a water reservoir to the tune of N$105 million that was commissioned last week at Arandis.
The mine has been supplied with water by the Orano Desalination Plant; however, the desalination plant during sulphuric eruptions faces challenges with the process and cannot at times supply water to the mines.
According to the general manager at Rössing, Edwin Tjiriange, the reliance of mines on desalinated water has increased significantly over the last few years due to the depletion of underground water.
“However, the desalination plant cannot cope with the sulphuric eruptions. It has been so significant over the last few years that we lost 59 days of production output between 2017 and 2020. Last year, we lost 24 days of production output,” he explained.
Manager of projects John Moody also explained they started the project in May last year, and it was completed in December last year.
Each tank has a capacity of 10 000 cubic metres.
“The tanks are made of glass fused to steel sheets that are low maintenance with a 30-year lifespan,” Moody explained.
Commissioning the project, agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein acknowledged the temporary stoppage of water supply does not only put great strain on the security of water supply of the region, its communities and industries but understandably also on the production of mines.
“There are three NamWater reservoirs that are used for supplying Arandis and Rössing with fresh water, and also provide buffer capacity when there are disruptions of water supply from the desalination plant. At the same time, the same buffer capacity was reserved for Arandis Town during periods when Namwater lacked sufficient water supply capacity,” the minister said.
He explained, when the reservoir levels dropped under such conditions, the mine had to cease operations until the reservoir level recovered sufficiently to safely resume operations.
“Such interruptions are unsustainable and often lead to Rössing incurring significant production losses,’’ Schlettwein said.
However, he says, this will be something of the past, as the newly constructed reservoirs will enable the mine to continue with production for seven additional days during periods of extended water supply outages.
“It means that with the additional storage capacity, unforeseen extended water interruptions can be bridged and security of water supply is significantly improved for both the mine and the community of Arandis,” the minister said.
He applauded Rössing for taking the initiative by investing in such a huge project.
- edeklerk@nepc.com.na