NAMIBIA’S water utility, NamWater, and the UraMin mining company signed an agreement on Friday to prepare for the construction of two water desalination plants north of Wlotzkasbaken.
UraMin intends to mine uranium near Trekkopje and will have substantial water requirements. The first stage is a N$250 million seawater intake and a pipeline to bring the water of the Atlantic Ocean to the shore three kilometres north of Wlotzkasbaken.The next stage is a US$110 million (about N$710 million) seawater desalination plant for UraMin and a second one for NamWater costing approximately the same amount.The plants, together with the intake and pipeline, amount to a total investment of roughly N$1,67 billion.”The facility will supply water to UraMin’s proposed Trekkopje mine as well as to NamWater clients in the coastal areas of Namibia,” Dr Vaino Shivute, Chief Executive Officer of the water utility, told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.Shivute said they expect to produce 45 million cubic metres of water a year, with 25 million cubic metres earmarked for NamWater clients and the rest going to UraMin, whose uranium mine is expected to be operational by early next year.Arnold du Plessis, General Manager for water supply at NamWater, told The Namibian afterwards that water from the desalination plants would go to the uranium mines in the Namib Desert, including Roessing Uranium.”The water tariffs for local authorities along the coast and their residents in the Erongo Region will not be influenced as long as their supply can be covered by the existing underground water resources,” Du Plessis said.According to the agreement, UraMin, which was bought by the French government company Areva recently, and NamWater will share responsibly for the construction cost of the desalination facility as well as the infrastructure for electricity supply.”The desalination plant will ultimately be majority owned by NamWater,” said Ian McPherson, MD of UraMin.According to NamWater water supply General Manager Arnold Du Plessis, the construction of the UraMin desalination plant will start early next year and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2009.”NamWater’s desalination plant will possibly be constructed close to the other site and must be completed by the end of 2009.The necessity for two plants is due to different pressure required in the pipeline and supply demands for the mines and the coastal towns.”The company Murray & Roberts was contracted to build the seawater intake and what experts call the “brine disposal facility.”NamWater has already experimented with desalinating seawater at the Swakopmund aquarium.Obtaining drinking water from the sea through desalination was already done at Luederitz during German colonial rule.The first stage is a N$250 million seawater intake and a pipeline to bring the water of the Atlantic Ocean to the shore three kilometres north of Wlotzkasbaken.The next stage is a US$110 million (about N$710 million) seawater desalination plant for UraMin and a second one for NamWater costing approximately the same amount.The plants, together with the intake and pipeline, amount to a total investment of roughly N$1,67 billion.”The facility will supply water to UraMin’s proposed Trekkopje mine as well as to NamWater clients in the coastal areas of Namibia,” Dr Vaino Shivute, Chief Executive Officer of the water utility, told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.Shivute said they expect to produce 45 million cubic metres of water a year, with 25 million cubic metres earmarked for NamWater clients and the rest going to UraMin, whose uranium mine is expected to be operational by early next year.Arnold du Plessis, General Manager for water supply at NamWater, told The Namibian afterwards that water from the desalination plants would go to the uranium mines in the Namib Desert, including Roessing Uranium.”The water tariffs for local authorities along the coast and their residents in the Erongo Region will not be influenced as long as their supply can be covered by the existing underground water resources,” Du Plessis said.According to the agreement, UraMin, which was bought by the French government company Areva recently, and NamWater will share responsibly for the construction cost of the desalination facility as well as the infrastructure for electricity supply.”The desalination plant will ultimately be majority owned by NamWater,” said Ian McPherson, MD of UraMin.According to NamWater water supply General Manager Arnold Du Plessis, the construction of the UraMin desalination plant will start early next year and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2009.”NamWater’s desalination plant will possibly be constructed close to the other site and must be completed by the end of 2009.The necessity for two plants is due to different pressure required in the pipeline and supply demands for the mines and the coastal towns.”The company Murray & Roberts was contracted to build the seawater intake and what experts call the “brine disposal facility.”NamWater has already experimented with desalinating seawater at the Swakopmund aquarium.Obtaining drinking water from the sea through desalination was already done at Luederitz during German colonial rule.
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