URÁN – Afrika zvyšuje ťažbu
Vzhľadom na zvýšený záujem o nukleárnu energiu a vysokú cenu uránu, veľa afrických krajín zintenzívňuje prieskum a ťažbu tohto minerálu.
Africa’s rising interest in nuclear power and high uranium prices have led to new uranium exploration and mining across southern Africa, which is home to the uranium-rich Karoo Basin.
South Africa, it is believed, holds 7% of the world’s uranium deposits, and is one of the countries attracting attention. Its uranium production has been dropping in the face of domestic energy shortages, forcing the government earlier this year to propose expanding uranium mining and processing throughout the country and constructing new nuclear power plants.
Namibia produced 3 067 tons of uranium last year — the sixth highest total in the world — according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group. Namibia’s Rossing open pit mine is the third largest uranium mine in the world, and accounted for 7,8% of world production last year , and Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia began production last year.
In northwestern Zambia, Equinox is hoping to mine uranium along with copper in the Lumwana mine. In southern Zambia, several companies are searching for uranium deposits. The Zambian government is completing new uranium mining regulations.
Botswana is now seeing uranium exploration by foreign mining companies such as Bannerman Resources and Ura Min.
The government has allowed Australia’s Paladin Resources to develop the Kayelekera uranium mine in northern Malawi, a move that prompted protests and legal action from some human rights advocates, over environmental , safety issues and tax revenue concerns. Malawi has not previously been a uranium producer.
And reports of illegal mining and environmental concerns dog the uranium industry in Congo. The country has long been a uranium producer; its Shinkolobwe mine was the source of some of the uranium that went into the atomic bombs that the US dropped on Japan during the Second World War.
The search for uranium on the continent goes beyond southern Africa. Niger is Africa’s biggest producer of uranium, and the fourth largest uranium producer in the world, trailing only Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. The country produced 3434 metric tons of uranium last year.
Zdroj: uraniumseek.com
02.01.2008
