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September 2015
MODERN MINING
27
COUNTRY FOCUS –
NAMIBIA
612 265 carats against a budget of 570 427 car-
ats. Debmarine Namibia, Namdeb’s deep-water
offshore arm, also performed well, produc-
ing 1,27 million carats. Commenting on this
achievement in its 2014 Annual Review, the
Chamber of Mines of Namibia says this was the
largest annual production recorded to date by
Debmarine Namibia, breaking the production
record for the third year in a row.
A highlight for Namdeb in 2014 was the
opening of the
Sendelingsdrif
mine on the
Orange River in November, constructed at a
cost of N$360 million, which will replace pro-
duction from Daberas. The associated Red Area
Complex in Oranjemund, a recovery and sort-
ing facility commissioned earlier in 2014, treats
the concentrate from Sendelingsdrif. It was
inaugurated at the same time as Sendelingsdrif.
Along with diamonds, the other main pil-
lar of Namibia’s mining industry is uranium,
although the hope of four or five new uranium
mines being developed in the near term – a
real prospect a few years back – has receded in
the post-Fukushima era and there is currently
only one new uranium project – Husab – under
construction.
The country’s first uranium mine,
Rössing
,
was developed by Rio Tinto 70 km inland from
Swakopmund in the 1970s and is still operating
today, although at much below its nameplate
capacity of 4 500 t/a of uranium oxide (U
3
O
8
).
A decision was taken by Rössing management
last year to curtail operations from August
2014 onwards. Commenting on this deci-
sion in a recent report to stakeholders, MD
Werner Duvenhage said: “Naturally, curtailed
The new acid plant at the
Tsumeb smelter in Namibia,
part of a US$350 million
investment by Dundee
Precious Metals to expand
and upgrade the Tsumeb
facilities. The acid plant is
now being commissioned
and will be officially opened
early next year (photo:
Dundee Precious Metals).
operations impacted on our production figures
for the year. Thus, during 2014, we produced
1 543 tonnes of uranium oxide, compared with
2 409 tonnes in 2013. Our revenue decreased
accordingly, i.e. by 19 per cent compared with
the previous year. This drop was due to signifi-
cantly lower market prices and sales volumes,
which in turn led to a net loss after tax of N$91
million (2013: net profit after tax of N$32 mil-
lion) from normal operations.”
Rössing ranks as one of the world’s great
open-pit operations, with the main (SJ) pit mea-
suring 3 km by 1,5 km by 390 m deep. However,
with operations having been curtailed, volumes
are declining – 23 Mt of rock were mined during
2014 compared to 36 Mt in the previous year.
Namibia got its second uraniummine in 2007
The metallurgical plant of
the new Otjikoto gold mine,
which is also covered on
page 32 of this issue (photo:
B2Gold Namibia).