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Friday, August 29, 2008 - Web posted at 8:40:54 AM GMT Roessing pushing for 2030 ADAM HARTMANURANIUM deposits at the Roessing mine may be sufficient to allow operations until 2030. |
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The mine's official lifespan is until 2021. "We believe the ore is there and could take us up to 2030," said Dave Gerrard, Roessing's Manager for Development Projects, at a recent press conference at Swakopmund. It required a balancing act for the mine to stay in production in 2005/6. Since then, because of newly explored ore deposits and good market prices, Roessing has extended the life expectancy of the mine several times - first to 2009, then to 2016 and 2021. The 30-year-old mine produces about seven per cent of the world's uranium production. Last year, it produced 3 046 tonnes of uranium oxide - down by 571 tonnes from 2006. The decrease in output was ascribed to the difficulty of exploiting an ever-narrowing open pit. Although Roessing is considering expanding its exploration work south and southwest of the current open pit, Gerrard said the "pit remains the mine's main source" and there were plans to widen it. Roessing is believed to be the largest open-pit mine in the world. The pit is three kilometres long, 1,2 kilometres wide and 345 metres deep. Mining of the exploration site ('SK area') south of the current open pit is likely to start in the near future. Other projects earmarked for the expansion process include a sulphur acid production and handling plant, and a heap leaching facility. With the expansion, the number of workers is expected to increase by another 125 this year. The mine currently has about 1 200 employees. |
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