By ADAM IHUCHA--Tanzania would approve
uranium mining in Selous game reserve before the end of this fiscal year, which ends in June, culminating
12-months of speculations over the deal.
The project, the first ever, expected
to provide direct and indirect cash flows in Tanzania in excess of $640 million
per annum, besides a $1 billion of initial capital.
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister,
Lazaro Nyalandu confirmed that the uranium mining development agreement would
be signed between now and June.
“The state will make sure that all
other remaining issues to be signed including the Mining Development Agreement
(MDA) are finalized before the end of this financial year” he assured the
investor.
The project is owned by Mantra Tanzania Limited and operated by Uranium
One Inc of Canada and
its parent, Russian state-owned nuclear enterprise of JSC
Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ).
According to Mr. Nyalandu
the extraction of uranium would be done in an area covering 350 kilometers
within the Selous game reserve in the heart of southern Tanzania tourism circuit.
Mantra obtained the environmental impact assesment (EIA) Certificate for
the Project in October 2012 following an approval by UNESCO's World Heritage
Committee for the minor boundary modification of the World heritage part of the
Selous game reserve.
The Special Mining Licence for the Project was granted in April 2013 and
Mining Development Agreement is the final stages of engagement.
Mineral resource estimate for the project, as of November 2012 specified
Measured and indicated resources of 93.3 million pounds of U3O8 (about
35,900 tonnes of uranium oxide), Inferred resources of 26.1 million pounds
(about 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide), and the overall mineral resource of
119.4 million pounds.
Tanzania expects to
produce 60 million tons of radioactive and poisonous waste during its 10-year
lifespan and up 139 million tons of uranium if a projected extension of the
mine is implemented.
Covering over 50,000
square kilometers, the Selous is one of the largest protected wildlife reserves
in the world and one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas.
The park in southern
Tanzania has large numbers of elephants, black rhinos, cheetahs, giraffes,
hippos, and crocodiles, and is relatively undisturbed by humans.
It is one of the
largest protected areas in the world and is one of Africa’s last great
wildernesses.
However, an
environmental lawyer, Dr. Eliamani Laltaika, raised a red flag against the
project, which could lead to the creation of 60 million tons of radioactive and
poisonous waste by the mine during its 10-year lifespan.
“Mkunju Uranium mining is inherently hazardous, dangerous, and harmful.
Its negative effect to a poor country like Tanzania outweigh any profit that
can ever be accrued” Dr Laltaika said.
Green activists say
the radioactive wastes pose a serious threat to Selous Game Reserve, which is
home to the world’s largest elephant population and other wildlife.
Until recently, it
has been relatively undisturbed by humans, although another plan is in the
process to build a hydroelectric dam on the Rufiji River, and elephant poaching
has become so rampant in recent years that the park has been listed as one of
the worst elephant “killing fields” in Africa by the Environmental Investigation
Agency.
The Selous keeps the
biggest wildlife concentrations on the African continent, including 70,000
elephants, over 120,000 buffaloes, more than half a million antelopes, and a
couple thousand large carnivores, all roaming free in its forests, riverine
thickets, steppes, and mountain ranges.
Its origins date back to the German colonial
times of 1896, making it Africa’s oldest protected area.
“No proven methods
exist to keep the radioactive and toxic slush and liquids from seeping into
surface waters, aquifers or spreading with the dry season wind into the reserve,”
the green activists say in a statement.
It remains
completely unclear how the company or the government of Tanzania will guarantee
that the impact of millions of tons of radioactive and toxic waste will be
“limited".
Uranium
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.
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.
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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