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AREVA’s uranium mining first takes Namibia’s water, then offers to sell them water

The recent growth in uranium activities in Namibia has boosted water demand in the Erongo region, near the Namib Desert, and stretched the nation’s limited resources….Namwater, Namibia’s state-owned water supplier, will be able to buy the excess water to supply other mines, ensuring that a shortage doesn’t harm uranium production,

Areva Offers Uranium Miners in Namibia Water to Ease Shortages – BusinessWeek, 19 April 2010, Areva, based in Paris, will be able to supply about 6 million cubic meters (1.32 billion gallons) of treated water a year to other miners in Namibia’s Erongo region, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said at the plant’s opening on April 16……………..

The recent growth in uranium activities in Namibia has boosted water demand in the Erongo region, near the Namib Desert, and stretched the nation’s limited resources. Rainfall in the region doesn’t meet the daily freshwater requirement of 35,000 cubic meters, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Water to augment supplies in the region is currently being pumped from the Omdel aquifer, which the ministry says has reached its maximum sustainable yield.

The desalination plant, at Areva’s Trekkopje mine about 280 kilometers (175 miles) west of the capital, Windhoek, is owned by Areva and a local company, United Africa Group, Lauvergeon said. It will produce 20 million cubic meters of water a year………………

Namwater, Namibia’s state-owned water supplier, will be able to buy the excess water to supply other mines, ensuring that a shortage doesn’t harm uranium production, Lauvergoen said. Rio Tinto Plc’s Rossing and Paladin Energy Ltd.’s Langer Heinrich are the two largest uranium mines currently in production in Namibia.

Output at Areva’s Trekkopje mine is expected to start in 2012, with an initial output of 3,000 metric tons of uranium ore a year, according to the company.

Areva Offers Uranium Miners in Namibia Water to Ease Shortages – BusinessWeek

April 20, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Namibia, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, uranium, water