Rössing still going strong

Rio Tinto Rössing Uranium Mine was the first uranium mine in Namibia. The mine achieved its first uranium oxide production in 1976 but its history began in 1928 when uranium was first discovered in the area. Currently the lifespan of the mine is predicted to last until 2025, according to Botha Ellis, the mine’s resident specialist in corporate communication. Managing director Werner Duvenhage is on record for previously being even more ambitious, having told the Namibian press agency that mining operations will continue beyond 2032. "Rössing's current life of mining will take us to 2025, but we have discovered 20 new pits next to Husab Uranium mine which will take us to 2032 and beyond," he was quoted saying.

To become the world’s longest-running open pit uranium mine requires an absolute dedication to excellence, according to Duvenhage. “The rock upon which Rössing was built is a competent and committed team of employees, some of them still with Rössing today - with more than 40 years of service!” he said when the company marked 40 years in operation last year.

Clark Beyer, managing director of Rio Tinto Uranium in Singapore also praised Rössing staff saying that, “going from risk of closure in 2004 to the heady days of the ‘nuclear renaissance’ and high market prices, to today’s challenges affecting both the nuclear power industry and the uranium mining companies, one thing has remained constant; the dedication and high standard of professionalism of the Rössing employees.”

By the end of 2015, Rössing staff complement consisted of 948 full-time employees, compared to 850 at the end of 2014, and the average number of contractors at the mine for the reporting period was 880. That year they also gave out ten bursaries and invested N$5,4 million in training 75 participants. Olympian Frank Fredericks was a 1987 recipient of such a scholarship and serves on the board of directors with the likes of Harry Louw under the chairmanship of Johannes Gawaxab. Other board members are Duvenhage, Ally Angula, Mpho Mothoa, Erasmus Shivolo, Foibe Namene and S.C. Trott from Australia, as well as three alternates.

Rio Tinto owns the majority of shares (69%) in Rössing Uranium Limited. The Namibian Government has a 3 per cent shareholding, but it has the majority (51%) when it comes to voting rights. The Iranian Foreign Investment Company owns 15%, a stake it acquired during the set-up of the company in the early 1970s. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa owns 10%, while local individual shareholders own a combined 3% shareholding. The shareholders do not have uranium product off-take rights.

As with its diversified shareholding the organisation has spread itself to become entrenched in Namibian society, with influence and presence far wider than in the nearby town of Arandis only 12km away. In 2015 the mine spent more than N$18 million on the implementation of community initiatives, mostly channelled through the Rössing Foundation, headquartered in Windhoek. A highlight of the year was a safety awareness project called Safety W.I.S.E to support a safety culture amongst primary school learners in Arandis, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. According to their stakeholder’s report for the year, the mine has adopted a very involved strategy, in terms of the surrounding communities, for distinct benefits such as skilled and locally available employees, capable and local suppliers of goods and services, access to sustainably managed natural resources, and healthy and safe environments.

Operating two significant uranium mines, which together provide for roughly 5% of the world’s uranium oxide mining output means Rössing can use all the support they can get. Rössing Uranium produces about 2% of the world's uranium output. The mine has a nameplate capacity of 4 500 tonnes of uranium per year and, by the end of 2015, had supplied a total of 128 650 tonnes of uranium oxide to the world. The mine site encompasses a mining licence and accessory works areas of about 180 km², of which 25 km² is used for mining, waste disposal and processing. Mining is done by blasting, loading and hauling from the main open pit, before the uranium-bearing rock is processed to produce uranium oxide.

For 2015 mining production was reduced to match the processing capacity of the plant in line with the change-over to a five-day operations schedule since August 2014. This followed a board of directors’ decision to curtail production to meet only contractual commitments, with the resulting curtailed production plan. By October 2015 the mine returned to a four-panel shift roster and a seven-day operations schedule to increase production.

Against a plan of 18.9 million tonnes, they mined a total of 19.3 million tonnes of rock from the open pit during 2015, compared with 23,3 million tonnes in the previous reporting year. Of the 19,3 million tonnes of rock mined, 6,8 million tonnes were uranium-bearing ore, while 12,5 million tonnes were waste, giving a waste-to-ore strip ratio of 1,80 and a ratio of 0,55 in respect of ore processed to waste rock removed, with 0,1 million tonnes of ore processed from stockpiles, according to the mine’s stakeholder report. The mine also drummed 1 245 tonnes of uranium oxide compared with 1 543 tonnes in the previous reporting year.

Beyer was first to admit that 2015 was a difficult year at the market for uranium sales but, “prices traded in a narrower range with less downside volatility than was seen in 2014, exhibiting some market stability for the first time in several years. Importantly, late 2015 witnessed the re-start of two nuclear plants in Japan, the first to resume operations since the Fukushima incident in March 2011. While this did little to reverse the effects of the supply/demand imbalance afflicting the market, it was an important first step in the market’s recovery,” he said. More recently prices hit a low in November 2016 but have begun climbing back with gains in December, January and February. At the time his outlook was for additional reactor re-starts in Japan and a further recovery in the market to price levels that better support mine production worldwide. China’s role in this recovery cannot be overlooked and Beyer said: “As the first foreign uranium supplier to China, Rössing Uranium and Rio Tinto Uranium remain well-placed to capture a significant share of this demand going forward.”