Русский
A subsidiary of Rosatom’s state nuclear energy corporation has commissioned a pilot installation at a uranium project in Tanzania, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev has stated, specifying that this concerns the Mkuju River project in southern Tanzania.
The Tanzanian government had completed an environmental assessment in June and has green-lit the project to start.
The Mkuju River mine is a large open pit mine located in the southern part of Tanzania in the Ruvuma Region. Mkuju River is the largest uranium reserve in Tanzania having estimated reserves of 182.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.025% uranium.
The mine has been developed by Mantra Tanzania, a subsidiary of the Uranium One Group which is owned by Rosatom. In 2017 Mantra suspended further development of the project because of low uranium prices. In 2020 they announced to resume extraction by applying solution mining (in-situ recovery (ISR), an eco-friendly technology.
Identified uranium resources at the mine are estimated at about 55,000 tonnes, with the Mkuju project expected to make Tanzania a top 5 uranium producer in Africa.
Uranium mining is seen as a way to enhance energy security, attract investment, and generate revenue, in Tanzania, with the country also exploring the potential of nuclear energy, with its own uranium resources potentially reducing the cost of nuclear power production.
Russia has been highly active in developing nuclear power plants in Africa, with recent investments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger among others.
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