By ADAM IHUCHA-- Tanzania is likely to
strike uranium at Lake Jipe, nestling in her border with Kenya, raising the
country’s hope to bolster its profile as the second World’s largest producer of
the radioactive mineral.
Tanzania Mineral Audit Agency (TMAA)
Planning and Research Development Manager, Mr Julius Moshi says that there are
signs of uranium deposits at Lake Jipe, in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro region.
Currently, the explorers are following
the leads to identify those areas where the concentrations are adequate to form
an economically viable deposit.
“At the moment geologists are making
round-the-clock efforts, to establish the quantity and economic viability of
the uranium” Mr Moshi told security officers in Rombo district, Kilimanjaro
region recently.
Energy and Mineral Deputy Minister, Mr
Stephen Maselle says that his docket is eagerly waiting the exploration report
over the new uranium discovery in Lake Jipe.
“We are hoping to receive the
explorations report anytime soon over the issue” Mr Maselle told this reporter.
Uranium is a relatively common element
in the crust of the earth, nearly as common as tin or zinc. It is used as fuel
in nuclear reactors and for military applications, such as in shielding
material and gyroscopic compasses.
About 64 per cent of the world’s
production of uranium from mines is from Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia.
Other uranium deposits have been
discovered in Bahi in Dodoma and Manyoni in Singida in central Tanzania.
In April, the Ministry of Energy and
Minerals issued a special licence to Mantra Tanzania Ltd, which is owned by
Mantra Resources, an Australian subsidiary of AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ), a
Russian mining firm.
ARMZ is building and operating the
Mkuju River uranium mine in southern Tanzania through Uranium One, its Canadian
arm.
Mantra Tanzania Ltd has been operating
in Tanzania since 2010.
Tanzania, which is Africa’s fourth
largest gold producer, also has huge deposits of coal, nickel, iron ore,
diamond and gemstones. Tanzania says it has at least 54 million pounds of
uranium oxide deposits.
A senior geologist at Mkunju River
Project in southern Tanzania, James Magweiga, said that Mkunju is home to
uranium deposits of 54,000 tonnes.
Tanzania projects that it can produce
14,000 tonnes of uranium each year, earning $249 million in royalties.
Senior geologist Dalaly Peter Kafumu
said should ARMZ indeed produce 14,000 tonnes of uranium, it would make
Tanzania the world’s second-biggest uranium producer.
Currently, Kazakhstan is the leading
uranium producer in the world, having produced 19,451 tonnes in 2011 accounting
for 36 per cent of the world’s total uranium production, according to the World
Nuclear Association.
It is trailed by Canada, which produced
9,145 tonnes or 17 per cent of the total production.
According to the International Atomic
Energy Association, global uranium mine production increased by over 25 per
cent between 2008 and 2010 because of significantly increased production in
Kazakhstan.
The increased resource base has been
achieved thanks to a 22 per cent increase in uranium exploration and mine
development expenditures between 2008 and 2010, which in 2010 totalled over $2
billion.
Mali, Malawi and Zambia are among
African countries where uranium exploration companies are currently active.
Rising demand
The IAEA projects that demand for
uranium will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
Although the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear accident in Japan has affected nuclear power projects and policies in
some countries, nuclear power remains a key part of the global energy mix.
Several governments have plans for new
nuclear power plant construction, with the strongest expansion expected in
China, India, South Korea and the Russian Federation.
By the year 2035, world nuclear
electricity generating capacity is projected to grow by at least 44 per cent.
Accordingly, world annual
reactor-related uranium requirements are projected to rise from 63,875 tonnes
of uranium metal (tU) at the end of 2010 to between 98,000 tU and 136,000 tU by
2035.
But the IAEA estimates that the current
global uranium resource base is more than adequate to meet high-case
requirements through 2035.
Warning
Analysts demand the strict measures
should be taken to ensure that uranium mining at the shared Lake Jipe, does not
compromise the safety of people, the environment, and the wildlife in Tsavo
national park.
“The mining of Uranium in Lake Jipe at
the border of Kenya and Tanzania has the potential to opening up the
transboundary conflict because if pollution occurs in the process could harm
the entire shared water body” says an Environmental Law Lecturer at Tumaini
University, Elifuraha Laltaika.
Principles of international
environmental law, Mr Laltaika says, prohibit actions of one country that may
have negative effects in another country.
He further says that another challenge
is the social and environmental impacts of uranium mining as observed in other
countries.
“This has lead to a conclusion in other
countries that uranium should better stay in the earth than on it. It is not
clear why Tanzania that is endowed with untapped sources of renewable energy
such as wind and solar/geothermal should opt uranium extraction” Mr Laltaika
explained.
Tanzania, East Africa’s second-largest
economy, is gambling on revenue from the mining sector as a key financier of
its medium- term economic growth plan, which runs to 2016.
The country’s targeting an average
growth rate of 8 percent a year.
National Bureau of Statistics shows the
mining sector contributes a paltry 2.8 percent to the country’s gross domestic
product.
Earnings from the sector have increased
steadily from $1.7-billion in 2005 to $3.6-billion in 2011.
In 2010, Tanzania enacted a new mining law that seeks to ensure the natural resource rich country reaps maximum benefits from the sector.
In 2010, Tanzania enacted a new mining law that seeks to ensure the natural resource rich country reaps maximum benefits from the sector.
The new law increased royalties to five
percent for uranium, diamonds, and uncut gemstones, four percent for gold and
all metallic minerals, three percent for industrial and other minerals, and one
percent for gems.
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