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2.2 Process of uranium mining

In Namibia, the uranium is mostly situated near the surface and is therefore mined by the open pit method in contrast to other countries, e.g. Canada and Australia, where uranium is mined underground. Because of the low grade of uranium ore in Namibia (average between 0.01 and in best cases 0.07%), huge amounts of rock have to be moved. For the mining process it is necessary to work with ore of almost identical uranium grade. Ore with higher grade is mixed with ore of lower grade. Very low grade ore is not profitable to be processed and is dumped as waste rock, which might be processed at a later stage if deemed profitable. About 15,000 tons of rock produce 1 ton of U₃O₈, in some cases the ratio of rock to U₃O₈ is much higher.
After the ore is mined, it is crushed into small particles and irrigated with chemical solutions to leach the uranium from the ore by either acid or alkaline methods, depending on the nature of the rock. In the succeeding milling process, the uranium is converted to uranium oxide (U₃O₈), also called yellow cake. This is Namibia’s final product exported to different countries for further treatment to be used for the generation of power in nuclear plants. Although Namibia has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the possibility of proliferation (production of nuclear weapons) cannot be ruled out completely.
In the milling process, only the uranium is extracted from the crushed ore. About 85% of the radioactivity which was present in the original ore stays behind in the slurry which is pumped into tailings dams. The radioactivity will remain for tens of thousands of years. The tailings have to be managed extremely carefully over a long period of time, since they present the most serious long-term hazard in the entire process of uranium mining. Bad management as well as heavy rainfalls can cause the tailings to overflow and slide, thus contaminating surrounding areas. Surface and groundwater pollution can occur.

3. The Namibian uranium mines in detail

Presently, Namibia has two operational uranium mines, Rössing Uranium mine and Langer Heinrich Uranium mine, and more mines are either under construction or in the planning phase.

Map 3: Uranium mining & exploration sites and communities most affected by the uranium expansion (Source: Conde, 2012).

3.1 Rössing

The Rössing uranium mine is located in the Namib Desert close to the town of Arandis, 65 km inland from Swakopmund. Rössing operates the third largest open pit uranium mine worldwide. As the first uranium mine in Namibia Rössing started operation in 1976. The ore body is an enormous low grade (100-300 ppm uranium) alaskite-hosted deposit. The mine is owned to 69% by Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational metals and mining corporation; other shareholders are the government of Namibia with 3% (51% voting rights), the government of Iran with 15%, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa with 10% and local individual shareholders with 3% (Rössing, 2009).
Millions of US dollars of dividends, due to Iran as shareholder, are lying in a local bank account, blocked by the Bank of Namibia. The state owned Iran Foreign Investment Company has owned the 15% shares since 1975, before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. According to a cable to the US from the American ambassador in Namibia, Rössing conveyed a request for advice on how they could get rid of the controversial Iranian partner. This was passed on by WikiLeaks in 2010 (The Namibian, 2 Feb 2011).
At the time Rio Tinto started uranium mining at Rössing, environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA) were not the order of the day. Safety measures, protection of mine workers’ health, consideration of environmental impacts were absent. This condition only changed later when mine workers complained about increased illnesses. However, safety measures were given more attention than the protection of workers’ health. Today the miners still complain of deteriorating health conditions, particularly those serving Rössing for many years.

Picture 1: Some of these big hauls are driven by women (Kohrs, 2013).
Rössing’s customers are North America with 54% of the product, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 24%, Asia with 13%, and Japan with 9% (Rössing, 2012). More detailed information is unfortunately not available.
In 2004, three men were arrested for the theft of about 28 kg of yellow cake. Later the police found three 500 ml bottles filled with U₃O₈ in a house in Arandis. Again in September 2009, the amount of 170 kg of yellow cake was stolen. Three suspects were arrested, when they were on their way to sell the material for US$ 35,000 per kg. It was obvious that the suspects were not aware of the danger of the stolen material (The Namibian, 8 Sep 2009).
In December 2013, an accident occurred when one of the 12 leach tanks in the mine‘s processing plant collapsed causing a leachate spill which, according to Rössing, was fully contained onsite and had no impact on the environment. The real cause of the accident was not revealed by the time when this article was written.

3.2 Langer Heinrich

LHU is 100% owned by the Australian company Paladin Energy Ltd and commenced production in 2007. The mine is located in the west of central Namibia approximately 80 km east of Swakopmund in the Namib Naukluft National Park and is expected to have a lifespan until 2023.
In April 2005, the environmental and social justice organisation Earthlife Namibia appealed to government, politicians and all Namibian political parties to stop mining operations at LHU. Earthlife said in a press release that mining uranium not only poses health hazards but also environmental concerns such as water contamination, one of the serious issues that have not been addressed properly in the environmental impact assessment (New Era, 21 Apr 2005). The fact that the mine is in a national park and water is a scarce commodity in this area, gave rise to great concern among Namibians including farmers, but these considerations did not prevent the ministries from granting the mining licence.
The Öko-Institute in Germany reviewed the environmental impact assessment (done by Friend, Softchem, North Riding/South Africa: April 2005) on Earthlife’s request with financial support of (then) Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Germany. The experts stated that the radiation doses are underestimated by a factor of four and that the proposed tailings management concept contains serious flaws. The Öko-Institute concluded that, given these circumstances, a licence should not have been granted.²⁷
In March 2008, heavy rains fell in the generally arid desert region. The open pit of LHU filled up with water. Concerns were raised about overflow of the tailings dam with consequent pollution of the surrounding area. According to mine management, there was no danger at all. This should have been verified through independent and proper investigation.
Paladin Energy Ltd also owns a uranium mine in Malawi. The yellow cake produced in the Kayelekera mine is transported by truck through Zambia, Botswana and Namibia to Walvis Bay from where it is shipped to its destination. The potential danger arising from accidents, spillage, sabotage and terrorism occurring during this long transport route does not seem to have been considered by Paladin and all relevant governments.
In 2013, John Borshoff announced that the Langer Heinrich project is on the market to sell off a minority stake, if the offered price was right. “We know what options we have on Langer Heinrich. It is a top performer with a long mine life, and needs to be considered for its strategic value,” he said (Mining Weekly, 2013). For the amount of US$ 190 million (about N$ 2 billion) LHU sold 25% to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). China became an important entrepreneur on the international uranium market.
In a newsletter received by stakeholders on 6 February 2014, Paladin announced that due to the low price of uranium the company is suspending production in Kayelekera mine in Malawi and is placing the operation under care and maintenance until the price of uranium recovers.